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Poultry Culture. 



HOW TO 



Raise, Manage, Mate and Judge 



Thoroughbred Fowls. 



BY 



Natick, Massachusetts. 




CHICAGO: 
W. H. HARRISON, Jr. 









COPYRIGHT BY 

W. H. HARRISON, Jr. 






CONTENTS. 



PART I.— POULTRY CULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Poultry culture as a farm product — Census of 1870 — 
Mr. Mansfield's Experiment — Poultry and egg 
production a source of wealth to the people — 
Statistics presented to the Chicago Convention, 
1878 — Startling Facts — France — Belgium 13 

CHAPTER II. 

DESCRIPTION OF FAVORITE BREEDS. 

Light Brahmas — Plymouth Rocks — Wyandottes — 
Brown Leghorns — Langshans — Silver-Spangled 
Hamburgs — Black Spanish — Houdans — Par- 
tridge-Cochins — Black-breasted Red Games, etc. 23 

CHAPTER III. 

TYPE IN BREEDING AND STRAINS OF LIGHT BRAHMAS. 

Americans lovers of beauty — The well bred form a ' 
line of '''' good ones " — We like strong blood — Con- 
stitution and vital force — The Strains of Light 
Brahmas — The Burnham Strain — The Rankin 
Strain — The Philadelphia Strain — The Autocrat 
Strain — Duke of York — The Chamberlin Strain, 
now widely known as the " Felch Strain " 37 



^^' 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. • 

DISCUSSION OF MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF 
AGRICULTURE. 

Secretary Flint, Mr. Felch, Mr. Hersey and Mr. 
Cheever discuss the whole question of Poultry 
Culture 67 

CHAPTER V. 

ON THE TREATMENT OF BREEDING-STOCK. 

The necessity of watchfulness — The best hatching 
time from May 20 to June 10 — Cockerels safest 
for winter breeding — The influence of feed on 
color — We can assist nature very materially 83 

CHAPTER VI. 

LOCATION. 

The location healthy for man will generally be so for 
poultry — Light soils good — The land needs cul- 
tivating — The early bird catching the worm — If 
the land be poor keep the horse-hoe at work — 
Poultry culture requires eternal vigilance 91 

CHAPTER VII. 

BUILDINGS AND FURNISHINGS. 

An open shed protected from storm and wind — Plan 
of building suggested — Special provision of tar 
felting for cold sections — Avoid box-nests — 
Roosts longwise — Nail kegs useful — Model coop 
far twenty chickens — Coops for Village use — , 
Buildings for incubation set apart — Hatching 
chickens — Chicken-house — Brooder — Every cor- 
ner a death trap 97 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

FEED AND CARE OF FOWLS. 

The kind of food suitable — Foraging by the flocks — 
Be careful to maintain an even animal heat — 
Good food preserves the plumage — Great need 
of ventilation 125 

CHAPTER IX. 

FROM SHELL TO GRIDDLE. 

Importance of regularity in feeding — Bill of fare — 
Corn — Wheat — Barley — Oats — Beans — Excelsior 
meal — Keep the food sweet — Milk is a whole food 
— Beware of distemper — Have some clover 129 

CHAPTER X. 

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

Artificial Incubation first successful in 1884 — The 
" Year " — The " Machine " — The Incubator needs 
careful operation — Careful study required — Incu- 
bators cannot be made self-regulating — Monarch 
Incubator — Mr. Rankin's experiment — 3,000 ducks 
raised — Mr. Buffington's experiment 140 

CHAPTER XI. 

DISEASES OF FOWLS. 

Their medical treatment — Fungus in the blood — Dis- 
temper — Roup — Chicken-pox — Diphtheria — The 
red spider louse — Diarrhoea — Treatment 149 



CONTENTS. 

PART II.— MATING. 



CHAPTER I. 



THOROUGHBRED FOWLS. 

Their proper mating — Rev. W. H. H. Murray- 
Color — The dam — Breast and body — Mating of 
the sexes — Light Brahmas — Dark Brahmas — Par- 
tridge-Cochins — Buff Cochins — The mating — 
The Black-Breasted Red Game — Royal mating 
No. I — Brown-Breasted Red Games — Red-Pyle 
Games — Golden Duckwing Games — Silver Duck- 
wing Games — To mate solid black or white fowls — 
Black Hamburgs — The Houdan — Plymouth Rocks 
- — Brown Leghorns — Wyandottes — Silver-gray 
Dorkings — Golden-Spangled Hamburgs — Silver- 
Spangled Hamburgs — Silver-Penciled Hamburgs 
— riolden-Penciled Hamburgs — Silver-Spangled 
Polish — Golden-Spangled Polish — Silver-laced 
Sebright Baniams — Golden-laced Sebright Ban- 
tams — Game Bantams 165 



PART III.— JUDGING FOWLS. 



CHAPTER L 

ON "THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE." 

The American Poultry Association's " Standard of 
Excellence " — Symmetry — Color — " The survival 
of the fittest " — " Like begets like " — Never 
forget the ancestry 265 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER II. 

JUDGING THE VARIOUS BREEDS. 

Symmetry — Light Brahmas — " Phi Beta II, . No. 
5876 " — Pullet taken to score — Dark Brahmas — 
Pullet "Juanetta" — Buff Cochins — Buff Cochin 
cock — Buff Cochin pullet — Partridge-Cochins — 
Cock "King" — Pullets — White Cochins — Lang- 
shans — Black Cochin pullet — Black fowls — 
Black-Breasted Red Games — Black Red Game 
pullets — Black Red Game cock — Brown Red "^ 
Games — Cockerel No. i — Brown-Red Game pul- 
lets and hens — Duckwing Games — Cockerel — 
Game Bantams — Silver-Spangled Hamburgs — A 
cockerel — Golden-Spangled Hamburg — The 
hen — Brown Leghorn — White Leghorns — Cock- 
erel — Plymouth Rocks — Cockerel — Plymouth 
Rock pullet No. i — Wyandottes — Cockerel — 
Wyandotte cock — White Crested Black Polish — 
Cockerel — White Crested Black Polish pullet — 
Houdans — Houdan pullet — Black Javas — Java 
hen — Pullet — Silky fowls — Japanese Bantams... 271 



PART IV.— TURKEYS, DUCKS AND GEESE. 



CHAPTER L 



TURKEYS. 



Turkeys fond of corners — These places dangerous — 
Bronze turkeys — Narragansett turkeys — How to 
judge turkeys 381 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER II. 



DUCKS. 



Rouen Ducks — Judging of Rouen ducks — Ayles- 
bury and Pekin ducks — The Call duck 393 

CHAPTER III. 

GEESE. 

Embdem geese — Toulouse geese — " My geese are 
ganders " — Judging of these two varieties — Chi- 
nese geese — The Brown China — White Chinese 
geese — African geese 404 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS. 

Cleanliness in feeding — The cramming process — 
Open judging — The right of protest 417 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frontispiece, I. K. Felch. 

Bantams: Page. 

Black-Breasted Red Game 327 

Golden-laced Sebright 263 

Japanese 375 

Red-Pyle Game 262 

Black Spanish 30, 155 

Brahmas: 

Dark 191 

Dark Brahma Cock 281 

Dark Brahma Hen 285 

Light Brahmas 23, 185 

Light Brahmas, Felch Strain 57 

Light Brahma Cock ' 277 

Light Brahma Hen . . . 50 

Brooder 118 

Chicken House , 119 

Ground Plan 118 

Cochins: 

Black 139 

Buff 201 

Buff Cochin Cock 289 

Buff Cochin Pullet 293 

Partridge 32, 197 

Partridge-Cochin Cock 297 

Partridge-Cochin Pullet 301 

White 305 

Coop: 

The Model Coop for Twenty Chickens 107 

Dorkings: 

Colored 249 

9 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Ducks: 

Pekin 401 

Rouen 395 

Games: 

Black-Breasted Red 33, 207 

Silver Duck wing 215 

Geese: 

Ennbden 406 

Toulouse 409 

Hamburgs: 

Black , 218 

Silver Penciled 257 

Silver Spangled 29, 128, 253 

HOUDANS 31, 221 

Incubator, The " Monarch " 145 

Javas: 

Black 365 

Langshans 27, 309 

Leghorns: 

Brown 26, 233 

Rose-comb Brown ; 85 

White 173 

White Leghorn Cock 335 

Plymouth Rock 24, 225 

Cock 339 

Pullet 347 

Polish: 

White Crested Black 75, 356 

Poultry House 99 

Silky Fowls 373 

Turkeys: 

Bronze Gobbler 387 

Wyandottes 25, 66, 239 




PREFACE. 



NOT long ago I took a journey with an old friend 
through the eastern portion of Massachusetts. 
The main purpose of our trip was to find out a suitable 
place for the establishment of poultry breeding on a 
very extensive scale. One day, in the course of conver- 
sation, my friend said to me : " Mr. Felch, if you will 
write a poultry book, telling what you know about the 
management of chickens from shell to griddle, giving a 
bill of fare, and showing how to care for them each and 
every day till they are four months old, taking nothing 
for granted, but giving the results of your own experi- 
ence and observation, your book would be invaluable 
to every poultryman and breeder in the land." 

In addition to this flattering opinion I received 
about the same time a letter from a publisher asking 
me to furnish the subject-matter for a work on poultry 
culture. After due consideration I have resolved to 



13 



PREFACE. 



undertake the task, and I hereby dedicate this work to 
that friend and to the publisher, and I hope that some 
good, at least, may come of the venture. 

It is a very grave consideration that there are eleven 
lions of families in America whose sons are growing 
lo find the avenues of trade and manufacture more 
and more crowded every day. If some of these should 
turn their attention to the business of poultry breeding 
and culture, they might find the occupation both pleas- 
ant and profitable. But it should be remembered that 
this business needs to be carefully learned, and it is my 
purpose to make this a thoroughly reliable hand-book 
for poultrymen everywhere. The work does not affect to 
be one of great literary brilliancy: my chief purpose has 
been to give the results of a life-long experience and 
observation with the feathered pets of the poultry- 
yard, I. K. FELCH. 
Natick, Mass., September 17, 1885. 




.* Wfi>Ni4l\>Wi«?ll 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 

IN 1873 we made our maiden speech on " POULTRY 
Culture as a Farm Product." We shall never 
forget the look of incredulity and surprise depicted 
on the faces of the four hundred farmers who listened 
to us on that occasion. The following is the substance 
of that speech : 

Although the poultry interest of the nation has 
been considered of minor importance, yet when we in- 
vestigate we find the egg and poultry product to be 
much larger than any other agricultural product or 
industry, and we become amazed at the amount of 
wealth annually accumulated by practical poultry keep- 
ing. 

The census for 1870 informs us that the cotton crop 
was 3,011,996 bales ; the corn crop, 761,000,000 bushels; 
the wheat crop, 288,000,000 bushels; the value of all the 
cattle, sheep, and swine slaughtered or sold to be slaugh- 
tered was $398,956,376; the hay crop, 28,000,000 tons, 
valued at $14 (a high estimate), was $384,000,000. 

The assertion that the egg and poultry produce of 
the States exceeds either of these large products is 

13 



14 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



met with derision ; yet it is true, and the produce finds 
no rival save in the entire meat and dairy products com- 
bined. 

Compute the nine miUions of famiHes in the States 
as consuming but two dozen eggs per week, and twenty 
dollars' worth of poultry per year, and we have (com- 
puting eggs at twenty-five cents per dozen) over $405,- 
000,000. Nor is this all. Large as it is, to it must be 
added the consumption by the saloons, restaurants, 
confectionery establishments, our thousands of hotels, 
together with the medicinal and chemical and exporta- 
tion demands, which will swell the amount to not less 
than five hundred millions of dollars as the annual prod- 
uct^ of the United States; an interest worthy of our 
considerate investigation. When we commence to 
make figures, we become surprised at their magnitude ; 
and that you may not underrate the hotel consumption, 
you have only to consult the encyclopedias to learn 
that the hotels consumed sixty-two millions four hun- 
dred and eighty-three thousand dollars' worth of eggs 
and poultry for the year 1879. There must, of course, 
have been a great increase since that time. 

The consumption of meat to each guest per day at 
the Grand Pacific, the proprietor of the hotel informs 
us, is $2.50, and two-thirds of that amount is for poult- 
ry, game and eggs. Another item should be consid- 
ered in this connection, and that is, thousands of prairie 
farmers, who live so remote as to make the running of 
meat-wagons unprofitable, are obliged to rely on their 
farms for fresh meat, and it is a fact that two-thirds of 
it is poultry and eggs. It is the custom with them in 
early winter to kill and pack in snow and ice the sup- 



POULTRY CULTURE. 15 

plies of poultry for home use. This, with the richer 
third of the population who consume far more than the 
estimate offered, will more than make up for the poor 
of our eastern cities, who consider poultry a luxury 
and seldom indulge in its use. With these items as 
data, we claim our estimate of five hundred millions to 
be far less, rather than more, than the actual yearly 
product, which, as we have said, makes the industry of 
poultry breeding and keeping one of the largest in 
which our farmers are interested. Like in comparison 
as the giant oak to its acorn origin is this large product, 
made up from the small collections from the small flocks 
of fowls seen about the doors of the hamlet and farmhouse 
in numbers of twelve, twenty, thirty and fifty, and wh£re 
a larger number is seen so rarely that they become the 
exception. These flocks pay a large profit on their 
cost of production, as may be seen by consulting the 
different societies' reports. In 1858, we see that thirty- 
eight fowls, kept in small yards, under unfavorable 
circumstances, with a market at thirty-eight cents for 
corn, sixteen and two-thirds cents for eggs, and fifteen 
cents per pound for poultry, yielded a net profit of 
$1.38 per head. In 1861, Mr. Mansfield's experiment 
with one hundred hens, having a free range of the 
farm, consuming but ninety-three bushels of corn or its 
equivalent, produced one hundred and forty-seven eggs 
each (no chickens being raised that year), and yielded a 
net profit on eggs alone of $1.35 per head ; to which, 
had the value of the guano been added, the figures 
would have reached the sum of $1.60. These and 
other statements are to be found in the Middlesex 
South Society's reports, of $2, $2.25 and $2,50 per head 



16 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



profit per annum ; and last, but not least, the banner 
statement of Mr. Whitman in 1873. With fifty-one 
Leghorns, which laid two hundred and seven eggs each, 
which he sold for thirty-one cents per dozen, the cost 
of keeping the fowls being $1.13 each, he shows a profit 
of $4.04 per head, proving conclusively that these 
small flocks pay much better with' care than do other 
farm stock. 

We have no reason to change our opinion, for 
the amount must be increasing each year. We as 
a nation are consuming more poultry and eggs every 
year. We are not alone in our belief of the magnitude 
or in our faith in the future of this immense in- 
terest or industry, and we subjoin from the pen of the 
able writer, Captain J. E. White, an article on the 
future capabilities of the country in poultry breeding 
as compared with other countries. 



POULTRY AND EGG PRODUCTION — A SOURCE OF 
WEALTH TO THE PEOPLE. 

France is, perhaps, the only nation that recognizes 
the poultry and egg trade as a source of wealth to its 
people, and protects and encourages it as it would any 
other business which brings a revenue to, and betters 
the financial condition of, its citizens. Under this fos- 
tering care the poultry and egg trade of that country 
has grown year by year until it has reached gigantic 
proportions — not only meeting the demands made 
upon it for home consumption, but also supplying 
English markets with more than $13,000,000 worth of 
this class of food annually. The value of eggs and 
poultry sold in home markets and consumed by the 



POULTRY CULTURE. 17 

French people is estimated at $110,000,000; add to 
this the exports to England and we have $123,000,000, 
which represents an industry that is looked upon by 
too many of our farmers and business men as being 
"too insignificant to merit consideration." It must be 
borne in mind that this $123,000,000 represents only 
the eggs and poultry consumed annually— it does not 
include the stock carried over to begin -business upon 
the following year. The value of the stock on hand — 
which is carried over for the purpose mentioned — is 
estimated at about $45,000,000, thus showing that the 
annual poultry and egg production of France amounts 
to $168,000,000. 

Doubtless most of those who may read this article 
will conclude — when they reach this point — that no 
other nation is as productive in this particular as the 
French, but the facts, supported by reasonable estimates, 
demonstrate that the United States are vastly more so. 
"In 1878 a convention of butter, cheese and egg pro- 
ducers was held in Chicago ; the most careful and relia- 
ble statistical reports that could be gathered relating 
to these products were placed before this convention ; 
from them we find that the annual production of eggs 
was valued at $180,000,000, and poultry sold at $70, 
000,000." Thus, according to this report, which I shall 
presently show to be incorrect, $250,000,000 were 
annually realized from a business " too insignificant to 
merit consideration." To some it will sound like one of 
Munchausen's stories, but to those who are in the busi- 
ness and understand something of its magnitude, it 
seems like a too modest tale ; it does not tell half the 
story. The population of the United States is more 
2 



18 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



than fifty millions. If each one of this population were 
to eat an egg to-day there would be consumed in eggs 
alone, at the present market price, $1,000,000; and if 
each one were to eat an egg each day for a year, the 
consumption of this one article of food would amount 
in the aggregate to $365,000,000; add to this the value 
of the poultry consumed, Avhich is estimated at $121,- 
666,648, and it- will be seen that the eggs and poultry 
consumed in the United States annually represent a 
money value of $486,666,648 ; add to this $45,000,000, 
the value of the stock carried over, and to this the 
sum realized from sales of fancy fowls and eggs, which 
is not less than $500,000 annually, and you have the 
enormous sum of $532,166,648, which is $32,000,000 
more than the value of the corn crop of the United 
States for 1879, ^md $189842,857 more than the wheat 
crop of the same year. But some " doubting Thomas" 
will say that there are thousands of our people who do 
not eat an egg each day. Granting this to be true, we 
must face the fact that many other thousands eat from 
two to four daily, and that eggs enter very largely into 
the composition of many articles of food which we con- 
sume each day, such as cakes, pies, salads, coffee, 
custards and puddings ; and we must not neglect to 
include in our account the eggs used in saloons, and for 
medicinal and chemical purposes. 

Perhaps there are few of our professional men, 
clerks and merchants, who, when they run like wild 
men to a restaurant and order a cup of coffee and a 
piece of pie, stop to think that when they have finished 
their lunch they have rendered unfit for incubation two 
or three eggs ; but such is the fact. Then we are not 



POULTRY CULTURE. 19 

SO certain that there are many thousands of our people 
who do not consume eggs or poultry in some form 
daily. We might jump to the conclusion that our 
poorer classes could not afford it ; but it would be a 
jump in the wrong direction, for whoever has traveled 
and been ordinarily observant has noticed that the poor 
almost always keep poultry. This estimate is based 
upon the supposition that the average price of eggs, 
the year round, is but twenty-four cents per dozen ; and 
this supposition, I venture to say, is not sustained by 
the facts, because at most times in the year — during 
the winter, fall and latter part of summer — they bring, 
in our own markets, from thirty-five to fifty cents per 
dozen, and in eastern markets from fifty to sixty-five 
cents, the price, of course, depending upon the supply 
and demand. Many of the eastern hotels make con- 
tracts with those who keep large flocks of fowls to 
furnish them so many dozen of eggs and so many 
pounds of dressed poultry daily, and pay for these eggs, 
in consideration of their being fresh laid, from forty to 
sixty cents per dozen. 

STARTLING FACTS. 

We are further indebted to Mr. James E. White for 
the following array of facts, which will be read with 
great interest : 

If France, with an area of 204,147 square miles, of 
which only 98,460 is capable of cultivation, realizes 
more than $200,000,000 annually from her poultry in- 
terests, it can easily be seen that the United States, 
with an area of 3,587,681 square miles, of which 1,700,- 
000 is capable of cultivation, should with the same care 




20 POULTRY CULTURE. 

and labor realize from the same source $3,264,000,000 
annually. But, of course, in order to make the con- 
ditions equal, it would be necessary for the United 
States to be as densely populated as France. 

The present population of that country is 38,905,- 
788, which would give each individual — if an equal 
division of the land was made — two acres of soil 
capable of cultivation ; whereas, the population of the 
United States is 55,000,000, which, under the same 
allotment, would give about twenty acres of good land 
to each inhabitant ; hence, this country is as capable of 
sustaining a population of 550,000,000 as France is of 
sustaining her present population, and if the produc- 
tion per capita only equals that of France, the sum 
total annually would be $3,264,000,000. But it has 
been shown that the production and consumption of 
this class of food is much larger per capita than it is in 
France, and if each citizen of the United States con- 
sumes as much of this food when our population 
reaches 550,000,000 as they now do, the annual value of 
this industry will not be less than $5,596,000,000. 

It will be remarked by those who have not given 
the food supply of this country thoughtful consider- 
ation, or the ultimate population and productiveness 
that attention which it deserves, that the writer of this 
article is visionary and enthusiastic ; but, my friends, if 
you look over the figures carefully you will see that the 
probable extent of this industry, when this country is 
fully developed, is capable of a correct mathematical 
solution, and is made on the basis that if 55,000,000 
people eat so much in one year, how much will 550,- 
000,000 eat in the same time ? 



POULTRY CULTURE. 21 

Belgium is one of the smallest powers in Europe ; 
its area is 11,373 square miles, and its population is 
about 5,253,821. It is the most densely populated 
country in the whole world, and about 60 per cent of 
its area is under the most exhaustive cultivation, that 
being all of it that is capable of producing good crops. 
In order that the extent of the country may be more 
fully understood, it may be well to mention, the fact 
that it is not nearly as large as the state of Georgia, 
while its population is more than three times greater ; 
and tnis little country produces annually, as shown in the 
statistics of that country, "274,967,824 eggs — or forty- 
eight eggs for each man, woman and child in Belgium ; 
and this is accomplished in a country " where the most 
persistent effort is made to cause the land to produce the 
food necessary for home consumption, and where a vast 
amount of labor and money is expended in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil." 

If such results are obtained under such unfavorable 
circumstances, what may not be accomplished in a 
country as favorably situated as ours ? 

It is the duty of all men who have the development 
of this country at heart to encourage the greatest 
possible production of every commodity that we can 
produce with profit, and among other industries the 
poultry and egg business must not be neglected. The 
farmers must be made to understand that the thorough- 
bred fowls are as much superior to the barn-yard fowls 
as the Herefords, Jerseys and Anguses are to the com- 
mon cattle that roam over our prairies ; and when they 
understand this, they will improve their fowls. 



22 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



Much more could be quoted to show the magnitude 
and the need of the development of this industry as a 
source of wealth to the nation, but above all this, 
farmers of America, remember that poultry keeping 
has more than a money value for you. Interest your 
boys in it, for thereby they learn many of the princi- 
ples that underlie the successful breeding of stock, — 
fitting them, when older, the better to manage cattle 
and horses. The rapid production of chickens enables 
them to try as many experiments in a few years as 
would take a lifetime with stock. In the breeding of 
fowls they learn that like produces like more surely, 
and only, as a rule, where the stock is bred in line, and 
that to produce chickens uniform in type and color 
they must have, in both sire and dam, a preponderance 
of the blood of the desired type ; they must mate kin- 
dred blood judiciously, avoiding too close relationship, 
— for by mating fowls of one blood for three genera- 
tions we produce sterile eggs. They learn that pre- 
potency of sire is more marked in the mating of 
kindred blood, and in the offspring of dams of weak 
constitution, and when appearing in the coupling of 
radically different blood, that it is an exception and 
not the rule. They learn that the blood mQst difficult 
to subjugate, in the end has more lasting quality, and 
does the flock the most good as a new infusion of 
blood ; these interests, once awakened, cannot slumber; 
the boys become thoughtful, and as they grow older 
their assistance becomes much more valuable than any 
help you can hire. 



CHAPTER II. 



DESCRIPTION OF FAVORITE BREEDS. 



WHILE we show several experiments in our in- 
troduction, we may affirm that all the different 
breerls will pay a handsome profit, if furnished quarters 




LIGHT BRAHMAS. 



suitable for their condition, and properly cared for; 
and, generally, it is best for the breeder to make a 
specialty of the kind his taste shall dictate. But with 
our thirty years' experience with all the so-called thor- 



24 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



oughbred varieties, we are led to advise, taking into 
consideration the individual merit and associate worth, 
the selection of Light Brahmas, Leghorns, Wyandottes 
and Plymouth Rocks, for they will be found to pay 
the best for extra care, for all practical uses. 

The Brahma is a superior winter layer, producing the 
larger number of her eggs from October to May. As 
poultry, the chicks have to be killed quite young, — say 
eight to ten weeks old, as broilers ; the most profitable 




PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



time as roasters being at eight months. This makes 
them late as poultry, but to make up for it in a meas- 
ure, the virgin cocks are tender enough for roasting at 
even twelve to thirteen months, more so than the 
native at seven or eight months. If the males be sepa- 
rated from the females when five months old and fed 
through till March, when poultry meat invariably ad- 
vances in price, the breeder will find them sought for 
by hotel and restaurant keepers, to supply the place of 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



35 



turkeys, and that they will sell at a price of only about 
five cents per pound less than capons. 

The Plymouth Rocks are good average layers, and 
in them the poulterer finds an excellent breed from 
which to produce broilers and summer roasters for our 
seaside or all summer resorts. In round numbers, ten 
dozen eggs per year is about what they will each lay, and 
hatch and raise you a brood of chickens, and in this case 




WYANDOTTES. 



the brood is gratis, for they will lay less eggs, we think, 
if deprived of the privilege of indulging in the natural 
instinct of reproduction. 

So long as the breeder of Plymouth Rocks will be 
content 'to have them occupy this middle ground be- 
tween the larger and smaller breeds, and endeavor to 
increase by breeding to that end the production of 
large eggs, they will hold their position of favor against 
all rivals. 



26 POULTRY CULTURE. 

The Wyandottes of late have come in for public 
praise and patronage. They are in the same class with 
Plymouth Rocks, and become their greatest com- 
petitors. Their breeders claim for them par excellence 
as broilers, and the merit of being better layers. In this 
we would, perhaps, accept the fact that their eggs are 
larger, but we fear they will not lay as many. What 
they may develop into in the coming years cannot be 
foretold. While we would admit them as equals, we 




BROWN LEGHORNS. 



are not yet ready to accept them as superior to their 
blue rivals. They are shorter jointed, more blocky, in 
some cases, and if they settle down to this as a uniform 
type, and a close-feathered, fine-boned race, they cer- 
tainly will deserve the boom they are at this writing 
receiving. 

The Leghorns are a non-sitting variety, and one of 
the largest producers of eggs, being most prolific during 
the warmer months. Their chickens make nice early, 



POULTRY CULTURE, 27 

though small, broilers, and should be killed as such, for 
as roasters their skin is tough and carcass too small, 
their chief merit being in egg production alone. They 
are very quick growers, many pullets commencing to 
lay at four months and a-half old, and there are cases 
on record in our own yard where they have laid at 
three months and three weeks old. We have also 
started with eggs and produced three generations in 
three hundred and sixty-three days. This precocity 



LANGSHANS. 



enables one to raise his stock birds even after the sea- 
son is too far advanced to rear successfully the larger 
varieties. 

Of the above we consider the Brahma the best of 
all the Asiatic breeds. The Langshan will lay an egg 
as large, and perhaps as many of them, and of the 
same desirable color of shell, but their white skin 
drives them into a second-rate poultry, as judged by 



28 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the New England demand for golden yellow carcasses 
when dressed. 

The Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, and we may 
add possibly for purely practical use the Dominique, are 
breeds to fill the middle ground, and from which to 
look for the broiler supply, and the Leghorns to give us 
the largest number of eggs in a year, and to produce 
them in the larger numbers at the time our incubating 
breeds are busy with the rearing of their chickens. 

Thus you see how peculiarly adapted one to the 
other the four breeds are, and all of them are hardy, 
standing much neglect. With them the farmer easily 
caters to the wants of the markets the year round. 

With the above breeds as stock the yearly product 

will average one hundred and fifty eggs and eight 

chickens to each hen, which will sell (taking Natick 

market for 1885 as a basis) as follows: 

12^ dozen eggs, at 25 cents per dozen $3 12 

4 pairs of chickens, 28 lbs. , at 25 cents per lb 7 00 

American guano 25 

Total $10 37 

The cost of producing the same being : 

Keeping of hen $1 15 

15 eggs for incubation 38 

Cost of growing 8 chicks to 35 lbs. live weight, at ()% cents 

per pound — 3 32 

Interest on investment and casualties 60 

Total $545 

These figures may seem high, but for the last ten 
years the same market has averaged from 31 to 32^^ 
cents per dozen for eggs, and grain has ruled very 
much lower. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 29 

To notice some of the other breeds, we will say " the 
Hamburg family " is one of merit as egg producers, 
yielding about one hundred and sixty-five eggs per 
year, as a rule ; and there is a case on record where a 
single hen of the Golden-Spangled variety laid one 
hundred and fifty-one eggs in six months. As poultry, 
the meat and bones are dark, so much so as not to be 
desired by market-men. The race is delicate, and hard 
to rear, but when six or eight months old seems to 
have become quite hardy, except it be a predisposition 




SILVER SPANGLED HAMBURGS. 

to the disease called " black comb," but why the disease 
should be so termed we cannot understand. To be 
sure, the comb turns black, but the causes come from 
derangement of the egg-producing organs. We have 
seen them lie down, their combs become black, and 
they, to all appearance, dead, when all at once they 
would expelthe egg, and in a few moments be singing 
about the yard as well as ever. 

The different varieties of this family are Golden- 
Spangle, Golden-Penciled, Silver-Spangle, Silver-Pen- 



30 POULTRY CULTURE. 

ciled, — this last being the old-time Bolton Gray, under 
which name it was first imported into this country. 
The white and black varieties are of more recent date 
than the first four named ; the black we think the 
most hardy and prolific of them all. 

The Spanish was long known as one of the best 
layers, and in fact the old Minorcas were in every 
respect equal to the Leghorns, but the breeding of the 
white face upon this breed has resulted in the fact that 
much of their merit has been sacrificed. Their eggs 



BLACK SPANISH. 



are larger than those of any other breed, but in num- 
ber they fall much behind the average. They are 
extremely delicate as chicks, but Avhen once matured 
they seem reasonably hardy ; and the contrast of a pure 
white face and ear-lobe with their metallic, green-black 
plumage makes them much admired. As poultry, 
here in America, we would not 'concede, perhaps, that 
they were up to the average. Their dark legs and 
white meat are not preferred by the masses. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 31 

The Dominique is every way equal in merit as to 
number of eggs, and in poultry equally as good, as the 
Plymouth Rock; it being rather under size compels it 
to take a second place. In all other points, what has 
been said for the Plymouth Rocks would apply to the 
Dominique. 

The French class, comprising Houdans, LaFleche 
and Creve Coeur, while highly appreciated in France, 
have failed to give general satisfaction in New Eng- 
land. But Mr. Aldrich, of Hyde Park, has been 




successful with the Houdans, and claims for them all 
that is excellent as table fowls, besides being a good 
average producer of eggs ; they are more inclined to 
non-sitting than otherwise. But the Houdan and 
Creve Coeur require warm, dry quarters. They, like 
the Polish, are inclined to roup if confined in damp 
quarters. 

The LaFleche are the most delicate to rear of the 
whole class, and in our northern climate are much 



32 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



troubled with a weakness in their hmbs. A good 
healthy hen of this breed, we believe, will lay more 
eggs from March to October than any other breed, not 
excepting the Leghorn. 

The Cochins are, in England, much preferred. They 
are good mothers, being covered with long, fluffy 
feathers. They are hardy, and as layers in winter are 




PARTRIDGE COCHINS. 



hard to excel. Their eggs are furnished with a thick 
shell, and in closely bred birds are extremely hard to 
hatch. There are the Partridge, Buff, White, and 
Black varieties, all having their admirers, the Partridge 
being the most beautiful, while the Black has undoubt- 
edly the most merit, for they are good layers and fine 



POULTRY culture! 33 

poultry. For one dollar " The American Standard of 
Excellence" can be obtained, which gives a full de- 
scription of the different breeds. 

We shall give special attention to description, as to 
color and type, under the head of " Judging." 

The game varieties find many admirers, and for a 
juicy broiler or a roaster under six months old, and 
as the mothers of chicks, they have no equal ; for the 
latter, however, we think the cross of a game cock on 




BLACK-BREASTED RED GAMES. 



a Partridge-Cochin hen pretty and serviceable, as they 
are more apt to receive all chicks given them to rear. 
The pure game, while very jealous of the care of her 
own, is death to all orphans or chickens not hatched by 
her. The games cannot be said to be first-class layers, 
as 128 eggs is all we can concede they will produce in 
a year in small flocks, and if too much crowded they 
will fall short of these figures. The Bantams, many of 



34 POULTRY CULTURE. 

them, lay more and greater weight of eggs in proportion 
to their own weight than do the larger breeds. Were 
eggs sold by weight, as they should be, we believe the 
Brahmas and the Bantams would be better appreciated 
than now. These Lilliputian hens are nice mothers, 
and pay to raise for this office alone. 

Speaking of the weight of eggs reminds us of seeing 
weighed the other day twelve taken from a basket of 
Brahma eggs that weighed two pounds and two 
ounces, and a dozen taken from a basket of them col- 
lected from the native farm stock on the Cape that 
weighed but one pound and two ounces, just one pound 
difference. Wherein is the justice of selling them by 
the dozen ? Bantam's eggs will weigh fifteen to the 
pound, and twenty-two ounces is standard weight for 
the Bantam hens themselves, while the Brahma pullet of 
eight pounds was the producer of the two pounds two 
ounce dozen. Bantam eggs are the smallest in the list, 
yet they are the largest twice over in proportion to the 
weight of the producers. It matters not what the 
breeds are. One bushel of corn or its equivalent in 
other flesh-growing foods, will produce nine to eleven 
pounds of live weight in poultry, and one has only to 
weigh his fowls to approximate their food cost, for 
cost of care must be added. 

When fowls are fed sparingly, being kept short, they 
become a bill of expense, for there are no stocks that 
pay so poorly if neglected. But if extra care be taken 
to furnish them all that nature lavishes in her bounty 
upon them, there are no creatures in the barn-yard will 
pay you so well for that care. A greater profit will be 
realized from all those breeds that hatch and rear their 



POULTRY CULTURE. 35 

own young if you allow them each to hatch and rear 
one brood of chicks during the season, for the incubat- 
ing season gives the laying functions rest, and you get 
more eggs, we are confident, in the year, beside the 
care of the brood of chicks gratis ; and as the chicks 
will pay one hundred per cent profit on their cost, you 
will find that many of the incubating breeds will pay 
as well, and even better, than some of the non-sitting 
varieties. In all breeds it will be found to pay to take 
pains to make your selections from the best laying 
families of the breed, for there is as much difference in 
them as there is in the Shorthorn breed of cattle for 
milk. 

Whichever breed we may select to keep it will not 
be found well to keep them beyond the second season, 
as young stock do much better — such yearlings as 
molt early. One had much better keep thus selecting 
about a half to carry over into the third year; the bal- 
ance of the fowls coming two years old should be sold 
as poultry just before chickens come into market, when 
they bring a much better price, and their value will re- 
place them with young stock. If the young stock is 
to be reared on the farm, it will necessitate the rearing 
of as many chickens as the breeding stock number, for 
chicks hatch nearly equal as to sex, which only enables 
you to replace the two-year-old birds each year sent to 
market. 

In nearly all the cases where we find people breed- 
ing in a practical way, we find them using only what 
we call native or mongrel stock. This, we believe, is a 
mistake, for the thoroughbred is worth as much, and 
many of the breeds far more, for this practical work; 



36 POULTRY CULTURE. 

and should all use the thoroughbred, killing, as they do 
now, one-third for poultry, using the larger number left 
to produce eggs for the market, using as breeders only 
the best they raise, selling only for breeding purposes 
when a fair price (say from two dollars and fifty cents 
to ten dollars each) could be realized, they would in 
this way raise the standard and come to learn that in 
every twelve fowls they kept they had the value of a 
cow, and caring for them as well they would find they 
paid as well. 

Show us a farmer who is conscious of capital invested 
in his fowls and we will show you a farmer who makes 
money out of them. The greater the number raised, 
the higher the price you will be able to command for 
the best individual specimens. This has proved true in 
cattle. (See History of Shorthorn Cattle in America.) 
It is every day proved in the case of fowls. Twenty-five 
years ago we sold Light Brahmas at one dollar each, 
and the price was considered a fair one, the native then 
selling for thirty-three cents. When the price increased 
to twenty-five dollars per trio, it became the town talk ; 
but in the past three years, when we have sold cockerels 
at one hundred dollars, and trios at one hundred and 
fifty dollars, it has ceased to be a surprise, and really 
it is not in keeping with bulls at seventeen thousand 
dollars each. We expect to live to see specimens of 
superior excellence sold as high as two hundred and 
fifty dollars. Already, in England, five hundred dollars 
a trio has been realized. 






CHAPTER III. 



TYPE IN BREEDING, AND STRAINS OF LIGHT 
BRAHMAS. 

IN setting up your boys in the business of practical 
poultry keeping, or for breeding thoroughbreds 
for the market, it is well that they have a motive and 
aim in view, — something that will interest and instruct 
them as well as help them to make money. We will 
therefore give a rule to secure uniform type and color 
in breeding, or how to establish a strain of such blood, 
hoping by interesting them in the theory to interest 
them in the practical workings of it. 

The American people are lovers of " beauty " in 
everything; a beautiful horse, a beautiful cow, all de- 
mand a price far above those of equal merit that fail in 
symmetry. Then in breeding aim to attain : first, 
beauty or symmetry ; second, color ; and both coupled 
with merit as egg producers ; and as the first two are 
to be transmitted in a greater degree by the male, it 
becomes of great importance that he should possess 
those desirable features. 

In selecting a sire be sure that he is well-hred and 
comes from a line of ^^ good ones" a bird which is the 
counterpart of his sire, for then you have a double 
guarantee that he will control the offspring. As a rule, 
the offspring bred back to the grandsire — the sire and 
grandsire being alike — :we start with almost a certainty 

37 



38 POULTRY CULTURE. 

of success, if we do our part in the mating. Having 
made our selection, we must put our foot down and 
stand firmly to the rule of breeding to no sires but this 
one, or males of his get, and none of them that do not 
assume the likeness of the sire, thus establishing aline, 
or " strain of blood," which, in a single word, means 
uniformity. 

In the hen secure first, productiveness as to eggs ; 
second, a robust constitution, coming from a long-lived 
race ; third, color ; lastly, symmetry ; and from this 
mating select the large pullets that most resemble the 
sire, and breed them back to the sire. This second 
crop of birds will be three-fourths the blood of the sire 
you selected as the founder of your strain. 

Now the more stubbornly the blood of the first -dam 
gives up to the blood of the sire, the more good it will 
do us when subjected properly to him. 

Many select well bred hens of a weakly constitution 
to make the first cross, for they assert, and truthfully, 
that the sire, being so robust and strong, nearl)' all the 
chicks favor the sire. This is all true, but it is also 
true that the blood used in the hen is weak and will 
fail in lasting quality. We like strong blood ; that 
which in the first cross seems to fight for the breeding 
influence ; that which has got to be bred back to the 
strain desired, and the control given if only by a pre- 
ponderance of blood. We then get a lasting good 
from the cross. Constitution and vital force must 
come from the dam, form and color from the sire; and 
in all the matings the introduction of new blood must 
be with a thought to that end. 

The crossing of two well bred strains oftentimes pro- 



POULTRY CULTURE. 39 

duces a distinct and new type which is very beautiful. 
To secure this new type (which is in itself a fact that 
the two elements producing were of equal strength, as 
neither controlled the breeding), and to perpetuate it, 
it would in that case be wise to select a dam of delicate 
though pure blood, thus giving the sire all the chance 
possible to stamp his offspring ; then by breeding his 
pullet back, to concentrate his breeding in his grand- 
children, they also being his children ; then we could 
go on, by selections of coarser or stronger dams for 
new blood for the strain. The American breeder is of 
a restless nature ; he wants something that is peculiar 
to himself, something in which he can be identified. 
You find them all over the country chopping up the 
blood of their birds by the introduction of new sires, 
first from one flock, then from another, hoping thereby 
to have something different. They succeed ; but when 
they have got it they are disappointed that no one else 
wants it. They think the bottom has gone out of the 
chicken business, and they curse the business and 
retire. Of such we will say, the business is better off 
when they do retire. Now there is but one way 
to reach uniformity in breeding, no matter whether 
it is horses, cattle or fowls, and that is by " in-breed- 
ing," and like poison, it may kill or cure, just according 
as we display good judgment in its use. 

Whenever we introduce new dams to a strain, breed 
their progeny back to the sire of the strain, and never 
use sires from this new introduction of blood until the 
blood has become thoroughly subjected to the strain. 

To explain : If the chicks of the mating of the pul- 
lets to sires of the strain are not all in type like the 



40 POULTRY CULTURE. 

strain, then breed back again, and do not use a male as 
a stock bird until the desired affinity of the blood has 
been accomplished. As a rule, use no male with less 
than seven-eighths of the blood of the strain, nor females 
with less than three-fourths of the blood of your strain 
as stock birds. 

If all the breeders would adopt this plan of breed- 
ing, and would keep a record, they would then see the 
importance of pedigree, and how beautifully all these 
things are governed by a natural law. We can mix the 
blood of our birds as easily as we mix the paints 
that give us different tints in color. By adhering to 
this mode one breeder becomes of benefit to his neigh- 
bor breeder, for by crossing strains the pullets become 
of equal value to each ; each breeding back to his re- 
spective strain makes the blood of his neighbors' strain 
feed the blood of his own. When breeders learn this, 
and work together, they will all be better ofT, and may 
become founders of families in fowls, as now breeders of 
Shorthorns become in cattle. We will follow out this 
subject by considering 

THE STRAINS OF LIGHT BRAHMAS. 

We speak of fowls as being of such and such a per- 
son's strain, but with no significance in the sense of 
individuality. Fowls cannot be said to be of a strain 
unless it can be shown by history or pedigree of blood 
that they possess fifty per cent or more of the blood of 
the strain. A type that reproduces itself is simply the 
result of an established strain. 

It is proper to speak of Williams', Oilman's, Buz- 
zell's. Dibble's or Bacon's stock, but to speak of strains 



POULTRY CULTURE. 41 

of blood in this connection is all wrong, for there does 
not exist, nor has there ever been more than four strains 
of Brahma blood brought to the country, and we have 
to number the birds Mr. Burnham calls Grey Shanghais, 
to reach even that number. 

If A purchase a cock of B, and the second year pur- 
chase one of C, to follow it upon his flock, the chicks 
cannot be called A's strain ; nor can it be called A's 
stock, only in the sense of ownership, for the blood is 
one-half C's, one-fourth B's, and only one-fourth the 
original blood of A's stock, C's stock being the more 
proper name, since it has twice as much blood of that 
strain as either of the others. 

The word strain implies, in breeding, a strict ad- 
herence to the blood of a particular family or 
Importation, admitting no more foreign blood than is 
necessary to sustain the health and vigor of the race. 

In this chapter it is our purpose to show what 
strains have been received and to what extent they 
have been retained, showing as far as possible what 
the principal Light Brahmas of the country are made 
up of ; for the time has come when information show- 
ing that a recorded history of blood and breeding of 
both sire and dam is needed. 

One may have females of one strain and purchase a 
male of another, and by in-breeding secure both in 
their purity, for there is a constant waste going on in 
the blood, which must be replaced ; and we think it 
can be demonstrated that more than one-eighth of 
foreign blood has to be introduced before the original 
suffers any organic change, and that this one-eighth 
is consumed by the original in supplying this waste 



43 ' POULTRY CULTURE. 

spoken of. To illustrate our position, we will mate 
the strains as we would a pair of chicks of one strain, 
and show that the same rule of in-breeding applies to 
them as to the fowls of an established strain. We 
mate a Felch sire to an Autocrat hen ; the first season 
the progeny is one-half Autocrat and one-half Felch. 
In the second year we mate these pullets to this same 
sire, No. i Felch, and produce chicks that are three- 
fourths Felch and one-fourth Autocrat. We also mate 
a cockerel of the first cross to the Autocrat dam, and 
produce progeny three-fourths Autocrat. The third 
year we mate the three-fourths Felch pullets again to 
the original sire, and we produce seven-eighths Felch 
birds, while again mating a three-fourths Autocrat 
cockerel to the original dam, we produce a progeny 
seven-eighths Autocrat. We have now produced the 
two strains from a single pair, and we claim them to be 
in their purity, for the blood of each has been grad- 
ually reduced in each family until entirely consumed. 
Beyond the point named it will not do to go, as further 
in-breading would result in sterility ; yet we can take 
birds from each of these families of the third year's 
breeding and repeat the same process " ad libitum." 

We can vouch for this experiment up to this point 
of seven-eighths. It is on this principle that we have 
the pure Duchess and pure Princess cattle ; and al- 
though we may say a cow is one one-hundred-and-t wenty- 
eighth Old Favorite, yet is purely the blood of Old 
Favorite of Shorthorn fame, we are consistent, for this 
infusion of one-eighth new blood but supplies the 
waste in the original ; consequently nothing is added, 
and the blood remains pure. 






POULTRY CULTURE. 43 

Among horsemen the rule generally followed is to 
breed out, as they term it, once, and breed in twice, by 
which process they reach only the three-fourths rule, 
which is hardly enough to secure against loss of type 
and color in poultry , for we have demonstrated that 
one-eighth is the amount actually consumed, and if we 
do not breed in to that extent our flock gradually 
changes in type and color. If with a strain once 
established we make a cross, and breed back to sires of 
the strain having out-crosses other than the ones we 
have described above, we can breed in so far as to pro- 
duce chicks sixty-one sixty-fourths of the blood of the 
original strain. Males of such production are valuable, 
but the females are generally poor layers and poor 
breeders, producing small, tough-shelled eggs, which 
seldom hatch. 

The matings that produce birds three-fourths and 
seven-eighths the blood of the original strain (this being 
the prolific stage of in-breeding) have the most merit as 
egg-producers and show-birds. Pride in one's strain, 
and a desire to keep up the prepotency in the male 
line, should be the only inducement to breed beyond 
the seven-eighths cross. 

To do this work of breeding, and the more easily to 
control it, a record or pedigree should be kept by every 
breeder ; and all males and pens of females used as 
breeders be named, if for no other reason than to give 
them an individuality, and to fix them in memory. 

All breeders should keep a pedigree-book. The 
time has come which compels us to do so for self-pro- 
tection, for the prominent strains are becoming more 
or less intermingled. The Standard by its influence 



44 POULTRY CULTURE. 

is converting the different strains into one common 
type and color. Since there is no outward indication 
of difference of blood, one can see how essential a 
pedigree is, so that in mating we may be sure of a cross 
when we purchase a sire or dam. One hardly wishes 
to send one thousand miles for specimens to put into 
his flock and find them identical in blood with his own. 

The cattle-breeder, in purchasing a bull to stand at 
the head of his herd, looks up his pedigree, and by 
that pedigree is enabled to select one that is bred in 
line with his own stock, yet with a cross of blood 
that will by its introduction improve his herd and be 
consumed by it, without changing in any way the in- 
dividuality of the strain of blood he takes pride in 
breeding. 

This introduction of new blood is but the feeding of 
the strain, and it is of as vital importance to know 
that we feed the blood as to know what we feed in the 
manger to support the life of the organism. 

A truthful record or pedigree would crush out the 
existing jealousies and restore harmony, for it compels 
breeders to stand or fall upon their own merits, and 
makes the blood and the specimen of a strain worth as 
much in one man's hands as in another's, as we now 
see demonstrated in Shorthorn cattle. 

None can fail to see what a benefit it would be if a 
printed record or history of all the Light Brahmas now 
bred in the States could be made as a basis — a founda- 
tion-blood from which to obtain a pedigree, or to use in 
mating, and what an influence it would have on the 
same by bringing such strains and sub-strains into 
notice, and as a result furnish a ready market. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 45 

The real strains being once established, and the sit- 
uation understood, the breeder would be relieved of 
the annoyance of having inferior stock palmed off as 
his strain by irresponsible parties, and the blunders in 
mating made by purchasers would be prevented. The 
pedigree discloses the breeder, and the assertion that 
such are Felch, Autocrat or Philadelphia birds, if 
proved by a pedigree, has a meaning, and protects the 
honest breeder. We know many are opposed to pedi- 
gree, for it prevents the selling of superannuated hens 
as yearlings, and presents to the amateur too sure a 
rule for breeding ; for the selfish say, " Let the begin- 
ners do as we did, and work out the problem for 
themselves by experience." 

In looking over the winning birds for the past ten 
years it is surprising to see how universally it is true 
that they are the result of uniting two strains, and 
breeding back to one of them. As we present the his- 
tory of the different strains and sub-strains, or flocks 
composed of two or more strains, with statistics as to 
their breeding, the rule will be apparent. 

THE BURNHAM STRAIN. 

This strain was, as he affirms, and as we understand 
the matter, the Gray Shanghai of 1849-50. From this 
blood was produced the fowls presented to the Queen. 
In 1866 the purest blood of this strain was found in 
the possession of Mr. Phillips, and was known and 
handled by Mr. Williams and Mr. Comey as Phillips 
birds. Mr. Phillips, just before his death, in conversa- 
tion with Mr. Comey, asserted that his flock was from 
the birds sent to the Queen by Geo. P. Burnham, that 



46 POULTRY CULTURE. 

he had bred them as closely as he could, using but one 
or two top crosses, and breeding back in a general way. 
He did not preserve the strain by any fixed rule of in- 
breeding, yet he must have preserved to a large degree 
the original blood, as his birds, to a large extent, come 
with single combs. They were dark in blood, preserv- 
ing the Chittagong characteristic of dark undercolor. 
The blood of this Chinese strain has been used to a 
considerable extent by breeders of other strains, as we 
will show anon. Until 1856 or 1858 these birds were 
known as Chittagongs, or Single-Combed Brahmas, as 
was also the Rankin strain. 

THE RANKIN STRAIN. 

The original birds of this strain were from India. 
This Mr. Rankin can clearly show. They were large 
in frame, had low single combs, dark undercolor in 
back, and large, lemon-colored legs with a prominent 
greenish-blue vein down the inside. The last feature 
seems to have followed the crosses of this strain with 
other strains, and seems to have been transmitted more 
readily than any other. Up to 1866 this strain or im- 
portation was kept pure. About that time the differ- 
ent exhibitions ceasing to give prizes to Single-Combed 
Brahmas, Mr. Rankin was compelled to use top crosses 
of pea-combed sires from the Chamberlin strain, and 
other sub or mixed strains, to secure the engraftment 
of the pea-comb on his strain ; and as breeding back so 
as to retain the pea-comb would be too discouraging a 
process to accomplish his purpose, it is more than 
probable that the race hardly held its own as a strain, 



POULTRY CULTURE. 47 

for it would be obliged to retain fully fifty per cent of 

the original blood to be called a strain now. 

These birds, however, have been largely used by 

the breeders of other strain's, for Mr. Rankin shipped 

large numbers of them to v3onnecticut, and to and 

about Philadelphia, which, with the Dr. Kerr birds, 

have largely entered into, and, being subject to top 

crosses of the Chamberlin strain, have become the 

origin and foundation-blood of the Philadelphia (Tees) 

strain. 

THE PHILADELPHIA STRAIN. ' 

The Philadelphia strain was known as Kensington 
or Tees stock about 1867 and 1868. While these birds 
can hardly be called a distinct strain, yet as such they 
have been used, in connection with those of the Ran- 
kin strain, by the breeders of the Autocrat and Cham- 
berlin strains, and the crosses have proved of the very 
best, and as auxiliaries deserve a notice in this connec- 
tion. 

This sub-strain (so to speak) which comprised the 
Brahmas in and about Philadelphia in 1866, were the 
winners in the Philadelphia and the New York exhi- 
bitions in that year, and were called the " Tees " birds. 
In conversation with Messrs. Henry, Tees, Sharpless 
and Herstine, we learned that the foundation-blood 
was originally from India and the Dr. Kerr birds which 
were from China. Whether they made allusion to the 
birds sent to Philadelphia by Mr. Rankin or to birds 
direct from Chittagong we cannot say, and it makes 
but little difference, for, as they afTfirmed, they were 
single-combed as a rule, and large of frame, with pale 
yellow legs. 



48 POULTRY CULTURE. 

From 1863 to 1868 these birds were converted into 
pea-combed stock by top crosses of birds from Con- 
necticut and New York, which were probably from the 
ChamberHn strain or birds of hke origin. At least 
we know this to be true in the case of the bird known 
as the fourth-prize cock of New York, in 1868, at the 
rink, he being from a cockerel bred by Mr. Pool, of 
New York, and out of hens by Baron Sanborn 302, 
bred by I. K. Felch. 

We have spoken of the peculiar color and vein in the 
leg of the Rankin strain, and the power with which the 
race transmitted it. 

The fact that this feature, though in a milder de- 
gree, was apparent in the crosses of the Philadelphia 
birds with those of the Felch, also with the crosses of 
the Autocrat strain, seems to indicate that the Rankin 
or similar blood entered largely into the foundation- 
blood of the Philadelphia birds of that period, as the 
parties we have alluded to affirm. Again, the birds 
brought from Philadelphia in 1868 and 1869 had the 
color of the ChamberHn leg, yet they still retained the 
Rankin shape of bone, being more round in its forma- 
tion than that of the ChamberHn stock. It will be 
seen that all the birds purchased of Mr. Williams from 
his so-called " Favorite Stock " did not materially alter 
the blood, for they were but the result of mingling the 
blood of the Rankin, Burnham (the Phillips Stock), and 
the ChamberHn strains, which is like the blood of the 
Philadelphia strains, for Burnham's and the Dr. Kerr 
birds they affirm were alike and from China. 

These birds were quite short in the back as com- 
pared to the Autocrat or ChamberHn strains. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 49 

One fact worthy of note here is, that the old hen 
exhibited by Charles Tees in 1867, then eleven years 
old, was as fine a Light Brahma hen in color and size 
as has been shown since, and her beautiful pea-comb 
shows that there were pea-combs and bluish under- 
colored specimens bred in 1856. She weighed fourteen 
pounds and four ounces, a larger weight for a Brahma 
hen than has since been bred, thirteen pounds and 
fifteen ounces, and fourteen pounds being the best 
weight for a Felch bird, and fourteen pounds, and two 
ounces the largest Autocrat hen on record. The writer 
fails to see that the Almighty has suffered man to in- 
crease the size beyond that of the original. 

There were several breeders of these Philadelphia 
birds of 1868, and if they have kept a record of the 
top crosses used since that time that have been of a 
different strain, it will be of much interest to others ; 
for, as breeders, we are compelled to breed to that 
form and color defined in the Standard of Excellence, 
and our strains constantly needing blood-food, it makes 
it necessary that the blood of each strain be different, 
and thereby does it become more valuable. 

All the strains are dependent one upon the other 
for this blood-food, and not only is it a personal inter- 
est to preserve these distinct types of blood, but it 
becomes a general necessity, for a strain that is iso- 
lated soon runs out ; the loss of color and vitality soon 
works its own ruin. 

The top cross of Beauty Duke upon the Philadel- 
phia birds, as Mr. Wade and the writer understands 
the matter, was simply adding a new top cross to the 
amount of one-fourth the blood of the Chamberlin 



50 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



derived from the cross of the fourth-prize cock of New 
York, 1868, with Felch hens. But if, as it has been 
claimed, he was the progeny of a son of Duke of York 
and a Philadelphia hen, upon a Felch and Philadelphia 
hen, then he carried into his Philadelphia harem one- 
eighth the blood of Old Autocrat and one-eighth 
Chamberlin blood, as a top cross upon the Philadelphia 
birds of i< 







LIGHT BRAHMA HEN. 



THE AUTOCRAT STRAIN. 
The history of this bird. Autocrat, is Avell known. 
Mr. Estes purchased the bird in Fulton Market, New 






POULTRY CULTURE. 51 

York, the seller avowing that he was imported. The 
subsequent history of this bird, his strong breeding 
quahties, the fact that when the blood was crossed 
with other strains it produced new types, this, with the 
pearl eye so different from the prevailing bay eye in 
other Brahmas, to our mind presents grounds for be- 
lieving the assertion that he was imported, although 
there is no proof to that effect. 

This bird was bred one season to females whose 
foundation-blood was the George P. Burnham birds, 
being the progeny of the stock sent to the Queen by 
that gentleman, the birds being " Phillips Stock," so 
called by Mr. Williams, who sent them to Mr. Estes. 
In 1866 Mr. Estes presented Autocrat to Mr. Williams, 
who bred him to the best birds he could procure from 
several sources. 

The better to understand the advantages received 
by the breeders of Light Brahmas through the advent 
of " Old Autocrat " it is necessary to say that before 
the war Mr. Williams' stock of Light Brahmas con- 
sisted of the Chamberlin blood, through purchases of 
them at Valley Falls, the Burnham blood and the 
blood of the Rankin importation. When Mr. Williams 
returned from the war, his old love clinging to him, he 
commenced again by purchasing the best stock he 
could procure in his locality, the same being descend- 
ants from stock he bred before going south ; also birds 
of Mr. Strout, of Framingham, that were from a cock 
purchased in Abington, mated to a Felch hen by a son 
of Baron Sanborn 302 ; also, hens of H. G. White, 
which were pure Felch, by Baron Sanborn 302. Birds 
bred from these elements were the foundation-blood in 



52 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Mr. Williams' yards, and out of which came his " Fav- 
orite Stock," and the same were in his possession when 
Old Autocrat appeared on the stage. Autocrat was 
mated to the best birds to be found in all these 
elements, and the male produce was Autocrat 3d, 
Eaton's Autocrat, Lord Berkeley and two other sons. 

Old Autocrat died early in the season. Lord 
Berkeley was a dark-plumaged bird, and as he bred 
very dark he was sold to go west. 

Autocrat 3d was a very large bird, but did not prove 
a good sire, many of his chicks coming single-combed. 
The greenish-blue vein was prominent in the leg, which 
strongly indicated a Rankin cross in his dam. He was 
lost by sickness, and his place filled by Eaton's Auto- 
crat, who proved a good sire, but the plumage of his 
chicks was dark. Li all these Autocrat crosses the 
dark undercolor prevailed. 

One of the other sons was sent to Mr. Estes, of 
North Carolina, where he was bred to birds of the year 
previous, out of the Phillips birds by Old Autocrat, 
producing the birds Colossus, Apollo and Triumph, all 
of which were purchased by Mr. Williams. That the 
blood of old Autocrat was radically different from 
other established strains is apparent in the fact that 
whenever crosses were made with it they proved good, 
showing increased size and producing new types, which 
had equal strength in breeding with other established 
strains. 

The friends of the old bird express a regret that he 
could not have lived, and his progeny bred back to 
him, thinking that the results would have been aston- 
ishing, and they consider his death a misfortune. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 53 

Now we do not concur in this opinion, although 
friendly to Old Autocrat, for his progeny bred too dark. 
It may be said that this fault of the progeny was de- 
rived from the Phillips hens. To this we cannot assent, 
for to admit this is to concede the merit of breeding to 
the Phillips stock, and to admit that Old Autocrat was 
weak in breeding qualities, and as all breeding tends 
to grow lighter it is this very dark breeding that has 
made his blood so valuable to breeders of other strains. 
The whole rank of breeding within two years will hail 
the advent of another such bird with joy. To prove 
that this dark blood and breeding is the work of Old 
Autocrat we will say that all the crosses of the old 
bird with the Felch stock resulted in dark-plumage 
birds. The progeny of Autocrat 3d, whose breeding 
indicated so strongly the Rankin descent, bred even 
darker than the others ; the cross of Son of Colossus 
with the Felch hen Penelope was also dark. A son 
of Duke of York out of a Tees hen, even-mated to 
Felch hen, bred dark ; yet the Rankin blood bred to 
Felch did not breed dark, nor did the Tees hen bred to 
Natick, the Felch cock, prove dark. We could cite 
other cases of like breeding, all of which goes to prove 
Old Autocrat to have been dark in blood, and in our 
judgment, had he lived to have been bred to his own 
progeny, they would have been so dark that he and 
his descendants would have been abandoned. As it is, 
he and his blood have proved a blessing, and where 
breeders of other strains have had the patience to wait 
and breed back have been very much appreciated. 
The fact that the hens he was bred to in Mr. Williams' 
hands were of a mixed strain of blood made his prog- 



54 POULTRY CULTURE. 

eny of far more value, for it gave the power of breeding 
more readily to his influence, and they being thus made 
up, gave the preponderance of blood to Old Autocrat, 
which with this great strength of breeding which we 
have shown entitles the blood to the name of a 
"strain." One thing is certain, his blood has been the 
only competitor the Chamberlin-Felch strain has ever 
had, and surely the Felch and the Autocrat birds have 
done more to make the interest in light Brahmas what 
it is in America than all other causes combined. 

So thoroughly has Mr. Williams become identified 
with this strain that to a great extent it is quoted as 
Williams stock. But there are others in a like manner 
quoted, which makes it fair to state that Mr, Comey, 
of Quincy, Mass., as well as Mr, Williams, its principal, 
is breeding the Autocrat strain, fed by the blood of the 
Felch and the Philadelphia strains, and that of other 
sub-strains, to maintain its vitality, 

DUKE OF YORK, 

Mr, Comey 's Duke of York was a grandson of Old 
Autocrat in a double sense, for both his sire and dam 
were the progeny of Old Autocrat out of the Phillips 
hens, bred by Mr. Estes. The Phillips hens, as we have 
described above, were in foundation-blood the same as 
the stock sent to the Queen by Mr. Burnham. The 
Duke of York was a vigorous bird, and lived to be bred 
to his own progeny, and also to the Philadelphia hens 
purchased of Chas. Tees by Mr. Comey, and to this 
mating we believe should be given the credit of bring- 
ing out in its best form the breeding qualities of the 
Duke, for sons by the Duke out of his daughter, mated 



POULTRY CULTURE. 65 

with the pullets by him out of the Philadelphia hens, 
proved excellent birds ; but the first cross with the 
Philadelphia hen developed poor combs, as did the 
Philadelphia stock with the Felch hens. 

It may be asked by the friends of Philadelphia stock 
where the progeny of Colossus got their faulty combs. 
We will say, just where the Tees stock got them, — from 
the Rankin. The blood was there, and large birds 
could not be forced without its development. 

Mr. Comey made crosses of the Rankin strain, which, 
as he informs us, he abandoned, as it with the York 
blood developed nothing desirable but size. Since 
1869^ Mr. Comey has confined himself principally to 
different Autocrat crosses, as can be seen in the Duke 
of Norfolk, Duke of Springfield, etc., descendants of 
Colossus, Apollo, and Triumph. He has adhered more 
closely to in-breeding than most other friends of the 
strain. 

In closing our remarks upon the blood of Autocrat 
we will say that, so far as they allude to Mr. Williams, 
they were submitted to him, and after examination by 
that gentleman we received the following : 

Mr. Felch : 

I have your manuscript, and have carefully read it. I cannot see 
that you have made any mistakes or said anything that is not true ; 
neither could I add anything that would make the history more com- 
plete. Wishing you success, I am, Yours truly, 

P. WILLIAMS. 



56 POULTRY CULTURE. 

THE CHAMBERLIN STRAIN, NOW SO WIDELY KNOWN 
AS THE " FELCH STRAIN." 

This strain is well known as coming from the birds 
that were found by Mr. Knox in the India ship in New 
York city in 1847. The first to breed these birds were 
Mr. Chamberlin and Mr. Cornish, of Connecticut, and 
Mr. Smith and Mr. Childs, of Rhode Island, the last- 
named individual winning the Albany and Barnum ex- 
hibitions of New York. The strain was in but very 
few hands up to 1852, at which time at Boston it 
created the sensation which gave to the breed an iden- 
tity and a name. For several years it went by the 
name of Brahmas or Short-Legged Chittagongs, the 
breeders clinging to the then good reputation of the 
Chittagong. But from 1857 to 1865 we see the Chitta- 
gong conceding the palm to the Brahma, by returning 
the compliment and being exhibited as Single-Combed 
Brahmas; and finally, in 1865 we find them discarded 
altogether as a race — the edict that all Brahmas should 
have a pea-comb sending them into oblivion. 

This Chamberlin strain from its advent has bred, as 
a rule, pea-combs and orange-yellow legs. The early 
specimens being creamy white, and the prevailing un- 
dercolor bluish-white, it has been a struggle to keep 
this bluish undercolor, for all strains grow lighter, and 
at the present writing, with all the care to retain it, 
one-half of the specimens will come white in under- 
color. To secure fine neck-hackles and dark tails and 
wings, this bluish-white undercolor is absolutely neces- 
sary; and in introducing new blood into a strain one can 
see how important it is that a dark specimen be chosen. 




Felch Light Brahmas. 



57 



POULTRY CULTURE. 59 

FELCH PEDIGREE STRAIN. 

From the original birds bred by Mr. Chamberlin 
came the cock Imperial 300 (the male that has been face- 
tiously mentioned as the bird Mr. Felch bought for a 
dollar or two out of a hen-cart), the founder of the well- 
known Felch strain of Light Brahmas. The female to 
which Imperial 300 was mated came from eggs bought 
from Mr. Childs (alluded to above), and were from Virgil 
Cornish, being in blood the same, and the name of Cham- 
berlin strain would be far more appropriate as indicative 
of its origin ; but as the breeding world has seen fit in its 
generosity to know the strain by the name of the writer 
of this work, he can only accept the situation. 

The writer is well aware that but for his love for 
the breed during the lull in the chicken fancy, from 
1855 to 1864, when nearly all the fanciers allowed their 
fowls to run out, so to speak, and accidental good luck 
in the way of an egg laid by Old Princess, out of which 
Honest Abe 307 was hatched, he too would have lost 
his interest, and with it would have been lost the pedi- 
gree and proof of blood that has preserved the identity 
of the strain. 

The writer would prefer that the strain should be 
known by the name of its original founder rather than 
to have it as it is, for he is now made responsible for 
the breeding of the strain, it matters not who mates 
them nor how far they are removed from his breeding, 
for then he could stand or fall on his own merits as a 
breeder, and his reputation would only be affected by 
the specimens bred by him and sold by himself. 
In speaking of the management of the strain, we will 
do so in the first person, submitting the following : 



60 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Since the purchase of Imperial 300 and the egg out 
of which I produced the hen Lady Childs, I have kept 
a true record of blood and breeding of all the families 
of the strain. This discloses all the introductions of 
new blood, and from what source it has come. These 
introductions of new blood have been m^ade on the 
principle that all animal life is suffering a continual 
waste, and is in as constant need of blood-food in a re- 
productive sense as it is of daily food to supply the 
waste in the individual, and experience teaches that no 
strain can be sustained without this supply. 

The blood used to vitalize the strain in my hands 
has been: First the blood in the old Nanturier hen, as 
seen in the use of Duchess, in 1858, being used as 
stock in my pedigree fowls in the hen Princess 362, 
which was one-eighth Nanturier blood. The next 
cross was Lady Mills 364, she being three-fourths 
Chamberlin and one-fourth Burnham blood, her one- 
fourth foreign blood being derived from the then 
so-called Chittagong or Gray Shanghai, from the 
Burnham Queen strain. Since 1865 all new blood has 
been drawn from the Autocrat strain, as seen in the 
following birds (see my pedigrees in the World's Pedi- 
gree Book): 

Autocrat Belle 392, Eaton Belle 407, Lady Ips- 
wich 1022, and Maud Williams 4146, and the cocks 
Experiment 337 and Ned Williams 4145, a brother 
to Duke of Springfield, The crosses from the Phila- 
delphia birds being Chicago Belle 382, Mrs. Strout 404 
and the cockerel fourth-prize cock of New York, 1868. 

By the tracing of these pedigrees it will be seen just 
how much blood other than the Chamberlin (the orig- 



POULTRY CULTURE. 61 

inal blood) is now represented in the Felch birds, or 
strain now bred by me. I will speak of some of the 
characteristics developed by these crosses. 

While it was asserted at the 1852 Exhibition at Bos- 
ton that this was a breed that would never run out, 
and although there has never been a breed so severely 
in-bred, yet all this introduction of blood was necessary 
to preserve the original type and color, for if contin- 
ually in-bred a loss of constitution, a change of type, 
and a reversion to white in color would have followed, 
while the third in-breeding" of new blood to a strain 
will invariably result in fine specimens. 

In the early crosses of Autocrat blood with the 
Felch the progeny was invariably too dark in plumage, 
and although oftentimes developing new types, the 
first in-breeding would restore three-fourths of the 
progeny, while a portion of the males would revert to 
light color, as in the case of Moses 327. The third in- 
breeding to the strain was necessary to a full restora- 
tion to the Felch type and color. (For my reason for 
that, see notes in history of Old Autocrat.) 

The cross of Experiment 347 (Autocrat) with Co- 
lumbia 386 (Felch) produced chicks of the same char- 
acter, which took two in-breedings to restore. 

The cross of Son of Colossus (Autocrat) to Penelope 
1019 (Felch) presented the same feature, but the third 
in-breeding to the strain produced birds scaling 92 to 
94 points, and many won first prizes. I think that had 
Old Autocrat lived to have been bred to his own prog- 
eny, his blood, so highly prized by breeders of other 
strains as new blood, would have been discarded. As 
it is, I presume Mr. Williams and myself have often- 



62 POULTRY CULTURE. 

times been censured, or at least the stock has been, for 
this very virtue — strength of breeding — by those striv- 
ing to cross the strains, and many a good bird aban- 
doned, which, had it been bred back to either strain, 
would have developed fine stock. 

The tendency to breed dark when the Autocrat and 
Felch crosses are made still exists. The cross of Phi 
Beta 5876, with Juno III 5879, produces a fine 
lot of females, but males too dark in some cases. 
These pullets known as Juanetta 5994, mated to the 
Felch cock Daniel Webster II 5999, continued to breed 
dark enough to produce fully eight per cent of the chicks 
with slate-colored backs. These birds are generally 
males, and grow up to have fine hackles, wings and 
tails, with quite dark undercolor to backs, and when 
they prove females they are, as a rule, too dark for 
exhibition purposes. While this is on the dark ex- 
treme, it is better than to have all hatch absolutely 
white, for then there is more or less loss for want of 
color in neck, wings and tail. One such cross is, how- 
ever, worth three times a cross that resulted in all 
chicks hatching pure white. 

The believers in dark undercolor, with myself, would 
approve, while those so strenuous in their belief in the 
white undercolor of back in breeding stock would con- 
demn. 

The early crosses of the Philadelphia birds with the 
Felch invariably produced lopped combs, and many 
that maintained their upright position had the middle 
division much too high. This and the development of 
the greenish-blue vein on the leg show clearly the India 
cross in the blood of the Philadelphia birds. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 63 

The color was easily controlled, and although there 
was seemingly no difference in the size, yet the prog- 
eny were much larger in the first cross, and were 
longer in arriving at maturity. Chicago Belle 382 
weighed twelve pounds at twelve months old. This 
cross, as developed in Prince 321 by Honest Abe 307, 
proved a very desirable one, as can be proved by H. S. 
Ball, T. L. Sturtevant, and Mark Pitman, all of whom 
used him in breeding. Again Tees Duke (Philadelphia 
blood) bred to Lady Fay (Felch) by a son of Honest Abe 
307 produced the sire and dam of the two hens known 
as Sturtevant hens, each weighing thirteen and one- 
fouith pounds, which were never exhibited without win- 
ning a prize. Their sire and dam were not large, as Mr. 
Strout, of Framingham, Mass., their breeder, can testify. 

The fourth-prize cock of New York for 1868 was 
one half Philadelphia, one-fourth Felch, and one-fourth 
the blood of fowls bred by Mr. Pool, of New York. 
This cock bred to Felch pullets, daughters of Honest 
Abe 307 produced Lady Rice 405, out of which, by a 
son of Honest Abe 307 (Optimus 3 1 5) was bred Coeur de 
Leon 326, one of the best Light Brahma cocks ever bred 
in America, and the sire of many prize chicks, among 
which was PoqonnuckgQQ, Ben Lidi 2777, Coeur de Leon 
VI, Leo 2776, and others, selling from $25 to $100 each, 
producing $1,425 worth of chicks in a single season. 
All these crosses of Philadelphia blood were controlled 
in color, which leads me to consider the top crosses of 
the Philadelphia birds to be Chamberlin blood, or that 
of a kindred nature. I speak of these crosses to show 
how dependent the breeder of one strain is upon those 
breeding another, and that whenever new blood is 



64 POULTRY CULTURE. 

taken into any strain of well-bred birds, when it is re- 
duced by in-breeding to that quantity which will soon 
be consumed by the strain, the best results are reached. 
This constant feeding of the blood is necessary, and 
without it no strain can long survive. By one system- 
atic rule we can keep repeating results year after year. 

Science tells us that we are changing constantly ; 
the waste in our blood is renewed by new blood, yet 
the blood in breeding type is the same. So is it with 
strains. The new blood by in-breeding becomes the 
weaker and the prey of the original blood that con- 
sumes it, constantly invigorating the original and not 
changing it in the least in type and color. 

The stock known as the " Sturtevant birds" were 
in the main Felch blood, and after the first year's 
breeding remained three-fourths Honest Abe blood 
and one-fourth that of the fourth-prize cock of New 
York in 1868, the former being Felch, the latter one- 
half Philadelphia, one-fourth Felch, and one-fourth 
Pool blood. Coeur de Leon 326 was bred by T. L. 
Sturtevant, thirteen-sixteenths Felch blood, and as I 
have said, was one of the best birds ever bred in Amer- 
ica. Mr. Sturtevant did not appreciate him, always 
supposing his best birds came from a bird which has 
many times won at the Boston Exhibitions. That Mr. 
Sturtevant was honest in his belief is apparent in the 
fact that he loaned Cceur de Leon to H. F. Felch for 
the season of 1874, with the results previously described. 

The cross of the Philadelphia blood with the Felch, 
as developed in the breeding through Prince 321 and 
Coeur de Leon 326 in the yard of Thos. L. Sturtevant, 
and later in the mating of Coeur de Leon 326 with 



POULTRY CULTURE. 65 

Parepa 395 by Moses 327, by H. F. Felch in 1874, was 
no doubt the best coupling of two strains ever made. 
Had Mr. Sturtevant's zeal for poultry culture been as 
lasting as it was fervent at times he would have led the 
van. But his greater love for his dog and gun, and the 
pressure of business, have led him to abandon the breed- 
ing of poultry for the present. 

To review the subject of strains, we come to this 
fact : that there are but very few strains and very few 
marked specimens from which originality of type has 
been established ; and when we indulge in top crosses 
we destroy the strain, unless we resort to in-breeding 
to secure the benefit of the cross, and to insure the 
type of the strain. 

We find also that all the strains or subdivisions of 
strains were, in their origin, dark in undercolor, and 
that with age they grow lighter, and if left to them- 
selves they may lose their original type, change being 
written on all, and only by persistent effort can these 
original types be retained. We should feel that as 
long as we deliver up into other hands these strains as 
good as we receive them, we have been equal to the 
task of breeding them, and should be considered breed- 
ers ; and that if we can improve a breed, surely we 
deserve praise. I am one of the few that say there are 
no better specimens exhibited to-day than were exhib- 
ited years ago. But I do believe the general average 
is far better. The excellence of the few is controlled 
by a fixed law, viz.: The eternal fitness of things, which 
says, " Thus far canst thou go, O man, and no farther." 
We are not endowed with the infinite, and our matings 
are sometimes blunders. 




WYANDOTTES. 



66 



CHAPTER IV. 



DISCUSSION OF MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF 

AGRICULTURE AT THE CLOSE OF THE 

ESSAY ALLUDED TO IN OUR 

INTRODUCTION. 

SECRETARY FLINT: I have been exceedingly 
interested in the paper which has been read by- 
Mr. Felch. I am sure he has come up to the expec- 
tations of those who had so much confidence, when 
they invited him to prepare this paper. Mr. Felch has 
had many years of thorough and careful experience 
and accurate observation, and I am sure the principles 
which he has enunciated in his paper will be of great 
interest and great value to the large number of poultry 
breeders in this state. 

I should very much like to hear the experience and 
observation of those who are now engaged practically, 
every day, in poultry breeding. There are a great many 
questions, I know, that many persons wish to hear dis- 
cussed, and there are others here who can discuss them 
better than I can. I have been a somewhat extensive 
poultry breeder in the course of my life. I have kept 
a great variety of fowls ; too great a variety, 
altogether, I am sure, for profit. I have generally come 
to the conclusion that where profit, for poultry and 
eggs together, is concerned, the Light Brahma is the 

67 



68 POULTRY CULTURE. 

best breed, but as egg producers the White Leghorn, 
and perhaps one or two other breeds, greatly surpass 
them. 

So far as the feeding of poultry is concerned I am 
pretty well satisfied that farmers and those who keep 
poultry are inclined to feed too much corn. Corn, as 
you all know, will induce fat, and when poultry are to be 
fatted for market they can be fatted probably 
quicker and more economically upon corn or cornmeal, 
heated, than upon any other substance ; but as far as 
my experience has gone, it is not advisable to feed 
corn if you wish to get the largest number of eggs ; it 
induces too great fat, especially if the hens are kept in 
some confinement. Hens that are allowed the whole 
range of the farm may be fed upon almost anything. 
They run off what little extra fat they get, perhaps, 
by eating too much corn ; but poultry that are con- 
fined, or partially confined, ought not to be fed too 
much upon corn. Oats, or any of the smaller grains, 
and vegetables, potatoes, fish, and that class of food, 
it seems to me, are very much better. 

As far as the feeding of fresh or cured rowen or 
young clover is concerned, I have no doubt that what 
Mr. Felch has said is correct. 

Question, Is there any danger of making White 
Leghorns so fat by feeding them on corn that they 
cannot fly? 

Mr. Felch: I don't think you can give them any- 
thing that will fat them so that they cannot run or fly. 
But as egg producers there is no question that the 
White Leghorn family is the best. They will forage 
for themselves^ and pretty thoroughly, and they are 



POULTRY CULTURE. 69 

stronger in their feet than the Asiatic breeds, if we are 
to judge by the damage they will do in the garden. 

Question, Do you have bottoms to your coops ? 

Mr. Felch: I do not. I have simply platforms 
for early spring, on which to place the coops, in the 
summer allowing them to set upon the ground. 

Question. How do you feed the clover rowen ? 

Mr, Felch: After curing it becomes brittle ; sim- 
ply feed in a rick, as to stock. If it is cut up too fine, 
and fed carelessly, they will waste it. 

Question. Which is the best, the Brown or White 
Leghorn ? 

Mr. FelcH: I would not say one was better than 
the other. 

Question, Do you have any difficulty in hatch- 
ing chickens from the eggs that are laid by the 
Asiatics ? 

Mr. Felch: That is the danger of the whole busi- 
ness. They sometimes become so very fat that it 
will be almost impossible to hatch an egg from them. 
Turn them right out and give them food that will not 
fat them, and you will find that the eggs will hatch well, 

Mr, Hersey, of Hingham: Mr. Felch says that 
close breeding in-and-in tends to sterility, I would 
like to inquire if he has had any actual tests of this, 
and if so, w'hat difficulties he has encountered? 

Mr. Felch: What I mean by in-and-in breeding 
is breeding birds of the same blood or pedigree to- 
gether. I always take pains when I am breeding in 
line, ** breeding in," as I term it, to so mate that there 
will be a change of blood, and secure the chick in 
blood different from sire and dam. It is always better 



70 POULTRY CULTURE. 

to breed back to the sire than to breed the chicks to- 
gether. When introducing a new element of blood, I 
find oftentimes that this works well. This is a rule I 
have followed for twenty years. I believe I was one 
of the first to adopt this course. I never buy a male 
bird, and consequently I have been obliged to make 
this new blood for scores of others ; and when I buy 
a new bird, I treat it in that way, breeding the pullets 
of the first cross right back to a sire of that strain, and 
never use a male bird until I have reduced the foreign 
blood to one-fourth or one-eighth. Now if you breed 
in-and-in for three generations, that is, breed brothers 
and sisters, in three generations, it will be almost im- 
possible to hatch an egg. 

Mr. Hersey: Have you had any actual tests of it? 

Mr. Felch: Yes sir ; I believe, as a rule, the state- 
ment I make will hold good. There may be excep- 
tions ; there are exceptions to all rules. But I think if 
any one follows that rule, so that he will know exactly 
what he is doing, he will find that I am correct. But 
the fact is, a great many do not know. They will have 
a flock of birds, and they will save a young cockerel 
from them and breed from them, thinking they are all 
of one blood. If they will start from one single dam and 
breed her chickens together, and their chickens and 
then a third lot, I am quite sure they will reach a point 
where the eggs will not hatch. Unless you have a 
flock of hens in one enclosure you can see how easily 
you lose track of them. You cannot get uniformity 
unless you breed your line of sires to the same strain of 
blood. I think any one who has tried it will agree 
with me in what I have said on that subject. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 71 

Mr. HerseY: I suppose we meet together here to 
gather facts, and whatever the result of our experi- 
ments may be, it is for our interest to know about 
them. 

Twenty-five years ago I started for the purpose of 
demonstrating, one way or another, whether we should 
be able to breed in-and-in or not. I took a white 
native, and from that white native I have bred for twen- 
ty-five years, and still the eggs hatch. During the 
twenty-five years only three times have I introduced 
anything different, and those three times it was done 
by eggs and eggs only, and the male birds were not 
kept, only the females. But during the last two years 
no new blood has been introduced into my flock, and I 
have bred in-and-in as closely as possible. My poultry 
yard is so situated, and so fenced in, that no other 
poultry can come near them. Now the result is that 
my eggs hatch a great deal better than my neighbors'. 
Three years ago (which was the last year I had the care 
of them myself) I set four sittings of thirteen eggs 
each, and every one of them hatched ; and of four 
others, eleven hatched. I think there was not a single 
sitting that year that gave less than six chickens from 
thirteen eggs. 

Now I admit that I have been careful in breeding 
to take only those fowls which were physically strong 
and perfectly healthy. I think that this is a point to 
which we must look carefully. I believe that healthy 
birds will bring healthy offspring. But perhaps I 
ought not to say what I believe. I only rose to state 
these facts. It is an isolated case, covering a period of 
about twenty-five years. If there were twenty-five 



72 POULTRY CULTURE. 

other individuals here who could stand up and say that 
they had tried the same thing, with the same result, we 
might be able to come to some correct conclusion. 
Perhaps a single experiment is not sufficient. 

Now if other people have tried the experiment of 
in-and-in breeding, and failed, — if they have really 
tried it, and not guessed at it, — of course that must 
count against the experiment which I have made. But 
I hope that if this Board shall meet in this or any 
other hall ten years from this time there will be many 
individuals, who will be able to rise up and say, " I 
know from practical tests what the result is of breeding 
in-and-in." 

Mr. Felch: The gentleman who has just taken 
his seat says that the introduction of blood was by 
eggs, saving the females. That does not meet the case, 
for he put half a dozen new elements into his stock 
every time he introduced the eggs, which might have 
helped him out. I do not see that his case touches 
the point which I advanced, for one introduction of six 
pullets would have carried him through the whole 
twenty-five years, and the eggs would have hatched 
well. 

Mr. Bill, of Paxton: I have had some experience 
in keeping hens, but I rise chiefly to add a word to 
what was said on one point by the gentleman who 
gave us the very instructive and interesting essay, and 
that point is this. He spoke of hen-houses in the 
sides of hills, near our farm buildings, so that the fowls 
might forage in the pasture with the cattle. Now he 
did not state what breed of hen would be the best for 
that purpose, but I judge from my own experience that 



POULTRY CULTURE. 73 

a kind of hen not much in favor, perhaps, with most 
hen fanciers, — I mean the Black Red Game, — is the 
one best adapted to that purpose. 

There is an impression abroad among hen dealers, 
and those who have not inquired into the matter, that 
the Black Red Game, or Game hens, are of little value 
except for their fighting qualities, but with all my 
keeping of the Games, I never have seen one fight but 
once, and that was with a White Leghorn, and he got 
awfully thrashed, so I am not keeping him for that 
purpose. But I find that in the pastures the Games 
have the foraging quality, and that is the point I rose 
to make. I know tolerably well four or five kinds of 
Game birds, and any of them will walk off and feed by 
themselves several hundred rods, — almost a quarter of 
a mile. 

Another notion that is prevalent about them is that 
they are quite wild. That comes partly from the 
name — Game. But I find that the Games are as gentle, 
if you treat them gently, as any hens I ever had any- 
thing to do with. As to their laying qualities, I have 
kept them several years and I am confident that they 
do lay well. I would not say that they are as good 
layers as the White Leghorn or the Brown Leghorn, 
but I do not know any other family, except the Leg- 
horns, that excels the Game in laying qualities. 

Another point about the Game is, that their eggs 
are from a quarter to a third larger than the Light 
Brahmas', or than almost any of the pure-blooded 
hens with which I have had anything to do, except the 
Leghorn. 

I would like to ask a question about the Black 



74 POULTRY CULTURE, 

Spanish. What does Mr. Felch know about them, as 
to their laying quahties, constitution, etc.? 

Mr. Felch: The Black Spanish, before the Leg- 
horn came into notice, was considered the best laying 
fowl. They lay large eggs, but they do not lay a large 
number of them. I think that a full-bred Black Span- 
ish will lay about one hundred and twenty-eight eggs 
in a year, — about what our native fowls will do. Prob- 
ably there is not half a dozen eggs a year difference in 
what the Black Spanish, the Game and native fowls will 
lay, and as a rule the Game eggs are much smaller than 
the Brahma. 

Question. How do the Black Spanish stand the 
cold weather in the winter? 

Mr. Felch: Poorly. A Black Spanish chicken is 
a miserable thing while growing, but when once grown 
the fowl seems to be quite hardy. It is a beautiful bird 
to look at — there is no question about that. If a man 
does not care how much it costs him to produce and 
keep a flock of Black Spanish birds he can have them 
and they will do very well, but they are not profitable 
managed in a practical way. I tried to find the breed 
that a person with the least experience could do the 
best with, everything considered, and that is why I 
selected the Leghorn, Plymouth Rock and Light 
Brahma ; and here let me say that no matter what the 
breed is, the Almighty has so fixed that thing that they 
will all pay a profit, if properly managed. A man wants 
to take the breed that pleases him, and if he does that 
he will be likely to take good care of it and make a 
profit. One man likes the Black Red Game, another 
the Brown Leghorn, and another the Brahma. I do 




75 



POULTRY CULTURE. 77 

not agree with those who say that the Buff Cochin is 
the best bird of the lot. The Buff Cochin is a splen- 
did hen to raise chickens, and they are handy to have 
for that purpose. They look large, but they are not 
really so. They are very full feathered, and their 
feathers make them look large. 

Mr. Vincent: The Black Spanish do not want to 
sit. 

Mr. FelcH: No ; but they are of weak constitu- 
tion. Still, I can hardly say that, because, when once 
grown, they seem to be hardy, if you can keep them 
away from the frost. Their wattles and combs are 
easily chilled, and that seems to take all the life out of 
them until spring. 

Question. What do you consider the best cross? 

Mr. Felch: I consider the best cross in the 
world is the cross of a White Leghorn cock on a Light 
Brahma hen. I say a White Leghorn, because that 
cross will produce a uniform white color. There will 
be no parti-colored feathers, which is an advantage in 
preparing poultry for the market. 

Question. -What would be the quantity of eggs 
produced by that cross ? 

Mr. Felch: They will produce as much as either 
of the thoroughbreds. I have birds in my family of 
Brahmas that have laid for twenty-three successive 
months without' sitting ; but that is unnatural. I have 
received several letters this season from parties to 
whom I have sent birds of this family stating that 
their birds have laid the entire season without wanting 
to sit. The Brahmas, both Dark and Light, do not lay 
in that way as a rule. 



78 POULTRY CULTURE. 

The Leghorn I call a hardy bird. The Black Span- 
ish I call a delicate bird, because they are predisposed 
to disease. The whole Spanish class must have dry, 
warm quarters, or they will have the roup. They will 
have catarrh in the head, and roup follows, and all the 
attendant diseases. You cannot put them in a damp 
place with impunity. 

Mr. Cheever: Is there any limit to the number 
of eggs that any one of the breeds of hens can lay? I 
think I have seen it stated in some paper, — from a 
French authority, — that the ovaries are limited. Do 
you know anything about that ? 

Mr. Felch: I do not feel competent to answer 
that question. I have seen it stated that a hen will 
not lay after she gets to be four or five years old. But 
two years ago there was a light Brahma hen at the. 
Exhibition in Boston that was twelve years and three 
months old, and she laid three days out of the week. 
I have had a Light Brahma in my yard this year 
eight years old, and she laid some forty-odd eggs. I 
believe, therefore, that hens will lay until they are 
pretty old. I do not believe, as some do, that they 
will cease laying at four or five years of age, but as a 
rule, birds after they are three years old begin to fall 
off in the production of eggs. 

Question. Are not pullets the most economical 
kind to keep for eggs ? 

Mr. Felch: The second year appears to be the 
year of greatest profit. You may raise two chickens, — 
a pullet and cockerel, — and the day they are twelve 
months old the pullet will have supported herself and 
the cockerel, and if sold at the end of twelve months 



POULTRY CULTURE. 79 

that cockerel is net profit. You may base your calcu- 
lations ,of profits upon that and you will find it to be 
true. A Leghorn, when she commences to lay, will 
lay usually until she molts, and generally will not 
commence to lay again until the next spring. But you 
get the start of a year, or longer, before it comes to 
that, if she has good blood in her. 

Question. If you were only keeping a few hens 
for eggs, what kind would you select ? 

Mr. Felch: If I were keeping hens for eggs 
alone, I should most certainly keep the Leghorn breed 
in preference to any other. Keep the pullets up to the 
time of molting, and then sell them and replace them. 

Question. Have you had any experience in regard 
to the laying qualities of the Hamburg? 

Mr. Felch: The Hamburg family will lay as many 
eggs, probably, as the Leghorn. They are handsome 
birds, and if any one has an eye for beauty, and wants 
a few handsome birds for eggs alone, I should recom- 
mend the Hamburg family. They are a little tender 
in raising, but like the Black Spanish they seem to 
become hardy afterward. They lay well. I have had 
Hamburgs that laid one hundred and fifty-one eggs in 
six months. That is recorded in the report of the Mid- 
dlesex South Agricultural Society for the year 1858, 
and it is also reported, I think, in the State Agricult- 
ural Report of that year. The Black Hamburg is, I 
believe, the best of the family, for their chickens are 
easily reared, and that, perhaps, is attributable to a 
cross. I think there is a Black Spanish cross that went 
into the original Golden Hamburg, that produced the 
Black Hamburg. The other varieties of the Hamburg 



80 POULTRY CULTURE. 

family are the Silver and Golden- Spangled and the 
Silver and Golden-Penciled. The white and black are 
two varieties of that class produced within my recollec- 
tion. 

Question. How long do you allow your chicks to 
run with the hen ? Do you have many deformed, one- 
sided chickens? I am troubled that way. 

Mr. Felch: I do not take the hen away until she 
weans the chicks herself ; yet it is as well to remove 
her to the laying house when the chicks are from five 
to seven weeks old, according to the season. I have 
the partings, or slats of my chicken coops, three inches 
apart, and when my Brahma chicks raise one or both 
wings to go in or out of the coop, I leave the door 
open, for in squeezing in and out through the openings 
between the slats they easily slip their hips down, thus 
making them one-sided, or deformed, as you have 
spoken of. I have seen an entire brood ruined by 
being reared beside a picket fence of one and one-half 
inch spaces. 

The foregoing discussion clearly shows the interest 
the farmers of the country are taking in this great 
question of poultry culture. They look upon it from a 
money point of view. They want to know how many 
eggs can be produced, and at what cost, and demand 
practical worth with exhibition excellence. 

The rule with all breeds should be to kill all the in- 
ferior specimens, whether they be male or female, and 
demand that the beautiful specimens be so in a double 
sense, " Handsome is as handsome does." 

If we breed from none but the most prolific layers 
we shall the more surely improve our stock, in laying 



POULTRY CULTURE. 81 

qualities. The policy of keeping all the females is a bad 
one ; they should be weeded out if they are poor layers. 

While the results quoted in the essay have been 
accomplished, and can be again, we can cut down the 
figures to a net profit of one dollar per head, and the 
margins are then even better than can be realized upon 
cattle or horses. 

There is no danger of over-stocking the market, for 
poultry seems to be a. necessity. Our southern breth- 
ren are in a large measure dependent upon it in warm 
weather. In all seasons it is to be preferred to beef or 
mutton and it always rules higher in the market. 

So long as beef, mutton and pork remain at their 
present prices, and when (as is the fact) a pound of 
poultry can be raised for the same price per pound, we 
see no reason why it will not be a profitable business. 
Even in this season of low prices in other provisions 
we find fresh eggs quoted at twenty-seven to thirty 
cents per dozen, in August, and corn but seventy-five 
cents per bushel at retail. 

A bushel and one peck of corn, or its equivalent, 
will support a laying hen one year, and if she produces 
but eleven dozen of eggs, no more than is obtained 
from the unimproved sort, it will leave a margin of two 
dollars and thirty-six cents per head for the care of the 
flock, which would pay, we opine, as well as the major- 
ity of the professions. 

We would not counsel the use of mongrel stock, as 
breeders, under any circumstances, nor the use of de- 
formed specimens, only in the case of necessity. Even 
deformity caused by accident may have so shocked the 
nervous system as to affect the breeding. 



83 



POULTRY CULTURE, 



We know of a case where a hen had her foot 
caught in a steel trap and, being in it some time 
before being hberated, had her nervous system so 
shocked that after the toes were amputated five-sixths 
of the chicks hatched from her eggs the following 
season were club-footed in the limb corresponding 
to the one mutilated on the dam. We know not all, 
nor even a small number, of like accidents would pro- 
duce a similar effect, but we cite the case to show that 
if an accident can affect the breeding how much more 
an hereditary deformity would affect it. 

Cross-bred fowls are, in the majority of cases, far 
more prolific as egg producers than the native, or even 
the thoroughbreds from which they were bred, and in 
all animal or vegetable life this will be found true. 
Therefore we must always produce them from the two 
thoroughbreds, for to breed from the cross will be to 
deteriorate. 




CHAPTER V. 



ON THE TREATMENT OF BREEDING-STOCK. 

A FEW general remarks as to repairing diseased or 
broken plumage, etc., may not come amiss. 

If in white birds, or in the white in parti-colored 
specimens, colored feathers appear, especially if black 
feathers appear in white, they will oftentimes, if 
pulled, be replaced by feathers true to the color of the 
breed. 

Young cockerels are often attacked by older birds 
and their plumage marred, in which case the feathers 
so injured grow slim and longer than the others. We 
have seen sickle feathers, corrugated along the quill and 
white in a black tail, removed, and afterward replaced 
by a perfectly black pair. We should not despair of 
an otherwise exhibition bird till we had removed^ these 
diseased and faulty feathers and given time for them 
to grow anew, for the majority of cases prove their 
restoration true to color. 

The only way we can keep our stock in presentable 
plumage during the breeding season is by watchfulness, 
and by removing all diseased and broken feathers, which 
will be replaced by new ones ; otherwise the fowls 
must wear their broken plumage till the molting season, 
and look badly. 

83 



84 POULTRY CULTURE. 

A Light Brahma having say from two to twenty 
black-tainted feathers in the back, if they are pulled, 
will often replace them with white ones. The process 
can be repeated till all are secured true to color. 

The best time to hatch the breeding-stock we be- 
lieve to be from May 20 to June 10. Such birds 
come in the time of year when they do not suffer from 
cold, and they grow rapidly and continually till mature. 

Cold weather comes on just in time to check their 
laying, and generally they will not have laid more than 
ten or twelve eggs before we are ready to use them, 
and we get them vigorous from the freshness of young 
productive life. Again, the adult fowls molt and rest, 
and generally have laid but few eggs before their eggs 
are needed for incubation. From such pullets, and 
these rested hens, we believe the best eggs for incuba- 
tion are procured. Early pullets that commence lay- 
ing in the fall, and lay through to March, sustaining a 
strain of six months' laying, we do not consider as good 
for the breeding-pen as the pullets named above. We 
believe the time and the way which approaches nearest 
nature's fitness of things the best to produce our breed- 
ing stock. 

The first forty eggs laid by a hen after molting, 
or the eleventh to the fiftieth egg laid by a pullet, are 
better, and the chicks from them prove larger and finer, 
than those laid afterward during the same breeding- 
season. 

Cockerels are the safest for winter breeding. A 
good plan is to use a cockerel till April i, and then 
turn the harem over to a young male coming two years 
old, from which to raise your breeding-stock, thus pro- 











ROSfe COMB BROWN LEGHORNS. 



85 



POULTRY CULTURE. 87 

ducing them in the time of year nature intended. Such 
birds generally have more symmetry and merit than 
those unnaturally produced. 

There can be no definite rule for number of females 
to one male ; this the breeder's good sense must deter- 
mine. There must be enough so that copulation will 
not be accompanied with coercion. This number will 
be found to be in Asiatics, from eight to fifteen ; in 
Plymouth Rocks, ten to twenty; Houdans from ten to 
fifteen, and in Leghorns the number can still be in- 
creased. Where less numbers are kept the male should 
not be allowed to run with the females constantly. 

Experience teaches that twenty are better than two. 
Two years ago we had birds penned in numbers rang- 
ing from six to eighteen, and in every case the eggs 
from the larger number hatched the best. In one pen 
they utterly failed, and when we increased the number 
to fifteen birds nearly all the eggs hatched, and the 
progeny were largely female. 

The feed while the plumage is growing, both in 
chicks and molting fowls, has much to do with its 
color. Writers affirm that the reason wild birds are so 
stereotyped in color is because of their freedom to select 
just what food they need. We do not think it so much 
the kind as the supply of it, and protection from the 
injurious effects of the sun, that controls the color ; nor 
do we acknowledge that the wild partridge is any more 
stereotyped in color and form than Partridge-Cochins. 
This question was raised at the Connecticut Poultry 
Exhibition, when H. F. Felch and H. S. Ball re- 
tired to the market and plucked feathers from different 
partridges and brought the same to compare with the 



88 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Cochins then on exhibition, which showed them to be 
no nearer uniform in plumage ; another fact, the part- 
ridges had both smooth and feathered legs. 

If a chick be starved, it will not only be dwarfed in 
stature but will fail in color. We have seen speckled 
half-starved Light Brahmas when put on generous diet 
slough their objectionable coats and grow plumage true 
to their kind. 

The finest specimens are those that do not cease to 
grow from the time they hatch till full maturity. A 
chick that suffers a severe check in its growth while 
young seldom proves a prize bird, and when hatched 
in winter provision should be made for producing 
green vegetable food in the way of green oats, to carry 
them through till the grass comes in the spring. 

The care of the flock does not consist entirely in 
furnishing it enough to eat, but watchful oversight, 
seeing to it that they do not huddle in large numbers 
in one place at night. We used to think that it was 
injurious to allow them to roost before six months of 
age, but we have altered our opinion and recommend 
it at the age of sixteen weeks. They should be induced 
to occupy low perches two inches wide, for there will 
not be one-half the injury arising from this as from the 
poisonous influences of their exhalations when crowded 
into small coops. 

If we take pains to cover the chicks whose weaning 
comes in a cold season of the year by throwing a 
blanket over the coop to keep off the cold night air, or 
to coop the broods in the afternoon when cold east 
winds are blowing, we many times secure the season's 
success. By these little attentions at just the right 



'POfrLTRY CULTURE. 89 

time we enhance our chances of winning at the winter 
exhibitions. 

We can assist nature to do her work perfectly. 
We do not consider it a sin to straighten a hare-Hp or 
crossed eyes in our children, or, if the muscle of the 
leg be contracted, to use the knife, that they may walk 
without limping the remainder of their lives, nor do 
we consider these things injurious to reproduction. 
And taking this care of our own offspring wherein is 
the sin if by judicious means we secure perfect devel- 
opment in our chicks ? In nine cases in ten chicks 
hatch with a perfect organism ; now is not any work 
legitimate that secures its perfect development ? 
Should a chick hatch web-footed the web should be 
cut back to its proper structure, thus liberating the 
toes to grow in their legitimate angles. While the 
comb in Light Brahma chicks will hatch perfect, its 
peculiar shape makes it less likely to develop properly 
than a single comb. In many cases bad combs can be 
prevented by proper treatment. 

The first thing that nature does in case of a wound 
is to repair it. Therefore, if the middle division is 
seen to be growing too rapidly, the serrations of this 
division should be pricked with a sharp instrument so 
as to make them bleed. This process will check the 
growth of this division and allow the side divisions to 
grow into proportion with it. If the middle and one 
side seem to be growing faster than the other side, the 
same process of treatment appHed to both will allow 
the weaker division to grow into proportion with them. 
An old cock may give a chick a severe peck on one 
side of the comb so as to turn it to one side. A cor- 



90 POULTRY CULTURE, 

responding wound on the other side will maintain it in 
its proper position. By this means we succeed in mak- 
ing the comb grow into proper shape. Is it not better 
to do so than to let it grow into an irregular, de- 
formed mass, and then turn butcher and cut and slash 
the comb, making a bad job of it, and receive the just 
censure of our fellow-breeders? Three-fourths of all 
the bad combs are the result of external causes and 
unnatural feeding to produce very large birds. 

The leg-feathering can be wonderfully assisted in 
its growth, and many a crooked toe saved, by pulling 
all foul feathers. The skin of the foot and leg is tough 
and the f-eathers oftentimes grow along under it from 
one-fourth to one-half an inch before penetrating the 
skin, thus causing the toe to turn in. We have pulled 
these feathers four times before succeeding in making 
them grow properly. 

The breeders and amateurs as a rule are too lazy 
to attend to all this minutiae (and the writer is as 
guilty as any one he knows, yet a guide-board may 
tell the way, if it does not go itself). 



CHAPTER VI. 



LOCATION. 

WE have in our introduction endeavored to show 
the magnitude, and create an interest, in the 
poultry culture of our country. To such as intend to 
make it a life business the selection of a location be- 
comes one of vast importance. Where man finds a 
healthy abode poultry may be expected to thrive. 
Yet a clay subsoil, unless the land be very rolling and 
all surface drainage complete, should be shunned; when 
flat and marshy, with no retreat from it, will always 
bring failure. A clay subsoil, if it be a slope to the 
southeast, south or southwest, terminating in a meadow 
lot through which a stream may run if underdrained, 
becomes one of the very best of situations upon which 
to raise poultry. All houses upon such land should be 
floored over, leaving an air space between it and the 
ground. At the very top of the elevation, if the land 
be trenched for i8 inches in depth beneath the under- 
pining, the same terminating in a drain, would enable 
you to dispense with the floor. Yet safety upon such 
soil demands a floor to all roosting and laying depart- 
ments. Such underdrained lands are strong, producing 
heavy crops of grass. Therefore they will support much 
larger numbers to the acre, and their heavy grass crops, 

91 



93 POULTRY CULTURE. 

while they furnish the forage for the fowls, consume 
more completely the dropping as plant food, and secure 
a healthy condition of things. A constant supply of 
grass does much more to keep the egg-basket full than 
many are willing to concede. 

Light soils are good, but demand far more work in 
cultivation, or the number kept upon the acre must be 
far less. We believe it far better to keep no more upon 
the land than it will furnish green food to than to con- 
fine large numbers and furnish the feed from other 
lands. If the land be light, oats must be cultivated for 
green food (we say oats, believing them best for this 
reason: they contain twenty-two per cent of muscle and 
three per cent of bone). 

The land needs cultivating also by the use of the 
horse-hoe to keep the surface fresh and clean from the 
collection of the dropping. This hoeing should be done 
regularly. When the vegetation fails to assimilate the 
dropping it generally kills out all vegetation. The sur- 
face becomes hard and sour. Cut into it and you dis- 
cover a thin green crust. Long confinement of fowls 
on such inclosures is fatal to a healthy condition and a 
high state of productiveness, and eggs laid by these 
fowls are to a large extent infertile. 

The old idea that any land is good enough to raise 
chickens on is a fallacy. Let one flock be grown on a 
rich soil, abundant in honeysuckle clover, and note the 
health and prime condition of plumage, the molting 
always complete. In contrast to this, see the occupants 
of a sandy hillside, where the grass crop is meager and 
sorrel abounds, in their faded spotted plumage, which 
indicates incomplete molting and light, thin condition. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 93 

In the one case they get insect life and vegetable food 
in abundance. In the other they depend upon their at- 
tendants to furnish it, which in many instances is not 
forthcoming. If this difference is discernible in the 
plumage, there will be equal difference in muscle also. 
We know this difference exists, and following it one 
gets less eggs by full twenty per cent from fowls grown 
on poor sandy soil. Land that will produce three 
tons of hay to the acre will support four times as many 
fowls as will an acre that produces but one ton. Land 
on which water stands should not be used except for 
geese and ducks. For them even a meadow lot, where 
the water does not reach the magnitude of a pond, is 
far better, for constant indulgence in water is by no 
means advantageous to ducks till six weeks old. When 
nature gives us a hillside of loam with gravel subsoil, 
inclining south to heavy soil, and terminating in a 
meadow lot there, in such we have the best of all loca- 
tions, for in such we have instant drainage from about 
our buildings, yet a soil that brings to the surface the 
earthworms every night, and as the season advances, 
even in summer, the fowls find in the meadow a cool 
forage ground rich in slugs and insect life. 

Have any of my readers watched from their chamber 
windows the chickens as they come from their coops 
at half past three in the morning, and deploy out into 
a skirmish line that sometimes covers acres, leav- 
ing the feed laid out for them the night before? See 
them return to the coop and a short season of brooding 
under the mother-wing, and wait the daylight to come 
out to their breakfast of grain. Why do they do 
this? Take your lantern some morning and take a 



94 POULTRY CULTURE. 

stroll with them, and see on your walk the earthworms 
laying at full length on the surface, also the insects, the 
beetles, the grasshoppers, cold and stiff in the cold dew, 
at the mercy of your flock of chicks. Kill some morning 
a cockerel that has taken this morning walk and you will 
find his crop well filled, and you will have the solution of 
the mystery and the origin of the old saw that " the 
early bird catches the worm." Again, watch just at 
twilight, after the chickens have eaten their evening 
meal of grain. All go on a grazing expedition, feeding 
upon grass as regularly as possible in your pasture lot. 
With these things before your very eyes you no longer 
hesitate as between rich and poor land as a location. 

If compelled to raise on poor land, then keep the 
horse-hoe at work. Sow the oats for green food, fur- 
nish fish and flesh and grain in abundance. Fowls will 
consume what is equivalent to twenty pounds of hay 
a year, and the acre that produces three tons, with the 
fall feed taken into account, will support four hundred 
fowls and keep green. Such luxuriant growth would con- 
sume all the dropping and save a vast amount of labor in 
cultivation of a soil so light as to support one hun- 
dred fowls only. To keep fowls without cultivation 
involves much more labor in the distribution of the 
food, for to feed ten thousand fowls on one hundred 
acres, or on twenty-five acres, will make quite an item 
in the labor account. Yet there are locations where a 
loam soil, having a subsoil of gravel, with sand be- 
neath all, would admit of houses as described below, — 
these houses the ends and back of which could be made 
with cement. 

In most of our pastures there are dry knolls and 



POULTRY CULTURE. 95 

southern sloping hillsides, in which excavations could 
be made fifteen by twenty-five feet, the ends and north 
sides walled up, leaving but the one side of the laying 
room and roof to be built of lumber; even the roof 
could be thatched, or earth-covered. All of which 
could be home-constructed, or by the employment of 
cheap labor. These habitations would be warmer in 
winter and cooler in summer. These quarters, located 
far enough apart to save the expense of fencing for 
yards, would save the labor of forage crops and all 
meat-food till the frost cut off the natural supply. 

No farmer should be excused from utilizing all 
such facilities adjacent to his building, which, with the 
barn-cellar and orchard, would in most cases enable 
him to keep at least two hundred and fifty fowls, all of 
which could be cared for by the younger members of 
the family, and the profits would secure older and 
abler help for the heavier work of the farm, while 
many a boy would be made a thinking, practical farmer, 
happy in his lot, who is now chafing under his hard 
home-life, waiting only for age to liberate him. 

The effect of geographical location we should not 
forget in this connection. He who thinks to succeed 
in poultry culture without almost eternal vigilance, 
and the practical application of the doctrine that pre- 
vention is far better than cure, had better never com- 
mence. Yet one who will put the same care and 
study, the same close attention and watchful business 
energy, into this calling as are employed by our mer- 
chant princes or bank presidents in their calling will 
surely succeed. He who trusts to luck in the majority 
of cases fails. We therefore do well to consider the 



96 POULTRY CULTURE. 

fact that the northern, middle and New England 
states are exempt from cholera, but that her cold, flat, 
wet lands engender roup and catarrhal affections. That 
along the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans cholera 
is the exception and not the rule, and that there high 
lands are exempt in a large measure from roup. 
Where cleanliness in the quarters is maintained the 
salt sea breezes seem to have a salutary effect. The 
short intervals of snow in these reigons all help in the 
preservation of health and profits of the business. The 
balance of the states being not free from chicken 
cholera the breeders have to watch and strive for 
health by greater care, by keeping fewer fowls to- 
gether, and by more cultivation and the feeding of less 
corn, and free use of sulphur, to fight the competition 
of the other states having only the longer seasons, 
whereby to compete successfully. In fever and ague 
districts, fowls are more liable to suffer from cholera 
than in sections of the same county even that are free 
from it. Thus to him who would make poultry cult- 
ure a business the question of location becomes one of 
the greatest importance, and failing in a perfect loca- 
tion we must by artificial means and man's device con- 
vert it into such to a certain degree before we can 
hope to be successful. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BUILDINGS AND FURNISHINGS. 

IT is no part of our purpose to present plans which 
we would not use ourselves, but rather to present that 
one which we deem the best for all practical purposes. 
All buildings must in a measure conform to the neces- 
sities of the locations upon which they are reared. 
Therefore we can only present our theory, and leave 
the reader to use it as best he may, by remodeling his 
old houses or using our plan in his new structures. It 
has become a necessity that fowls must have exercise 
in the open air each and every day if we would be cer- 
tain their eggs will hatch in the winter months. And 
all broilers for the months of February to July must 
be hatched in the cold months of the year. One-half 
of the cause of eggs hatching poorly in March and 
April is the fact that the fowls have been housed 
closely all winter. 

Our cut represents the best and only plan so far 
published in which with the least trouble, in the warm 
portion of each day a sun and dust bath in the open 
air can be enjoyed by the fowls, and the balance of the 
day the same space can become additional house room. 
An open shed protected from wind and storm is the 
place of all others a fowl will select for the purpose. 
The cut we take by permission of the Ferris Publishing 

97 



98 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Co., from their work, the Wyandotte Fowl, it being our 
original idea. These open sheds, having a southern ex- 
posure protected from wind and storm, enable the 
fowls to enjoy the open air each day, by the attendant 
at lo A. M. opening the front by swinging it inward, 
and thereby completing the partition which makes 
the inclosure of the laying and roosting room, while 
the balance of the house becomes an open shed, 
which as such the fowls enjoy until the sun begins to 
get into the west and the air becomes too cold, 
when the keeper returns the partition to the front, and 
our building becomes a house entire. In mild weather the 
partition can stand ajar, the better to air out the whole 
building. 

This plan represents a building 13x25, which, so far 
as the laying room goes, having the two-foot projec- 
tion, makes that room 15x15, and a shed 10x13. The 
front posts 7 feet, rear posts 5 feet, front roof 8^ feet, 
rear \i]4 feet, the smaller door being hinged to the 
swinging front, the two covering ten feet, leaving three 
feet of stationary partition, which completes, with the 
door, the partition, when the building is divided into 
shed and house. This arrangement saves a vast 
amount of labor in shoveling snow or littering down in 
front of the ordinary fowl houses, and the fowls may 
enjoy the air, for they will not travel on snow if they 
can avoid it. 

Fowls may be housed closely all winter, and by high 
keeping be made to lay a large average number of 
eggs, but not one of them will hatch. This is why we 
urge this plan. If you are in the egg trade it will save 
you hundreds of disappointed purchasers. It will 




99 



POULTRY CULTURE. " 101 

insure you a larger brood of chickens from the eggs 
you set at honie. This is but tlie repetition of advice 
given ten years ago. In severe cold weather the plan 
gives us the whole in enlarged quarters made secure 
from the weather. In heavy rain storms the fowls are 
no longer forced to take shelter in the fence corners or 
under the cart, which only form a poor protection. 
Again, this plan puts the breeder in a position to sell 
eggs that will hatch all the winter through. There are 
many inquiries for^ggs for the incubator trade during 
the cold months. If you anticipate running incubators 
yourself, to raise broilers by artificial means, then you 
cannot do without such a building. 

These houses can be built double, the whole being 
15x50 feet, a solid partition in the middle making two 
laying rooms 15x15 and a shed of 10x15 feet at each 
end of the house. Such houses built in rows, with a 
fence running from the front of the one to rear of the 
other, would secure the fowls in colonies of fifty each; 
the buildings being ten roods apart would secure 
their returning to their own quarters to lay and roost, 
— the plan we deem the best of all with which we are 
acquainted. If you desire others, there are works at 
twenty-five cents each in which you can have your 
choice of a hundred styles in architecture. But we 
present no other plan, for we know this will secure the 
best results. 

In the coldest sections of the country we would 
recommend they be constructed and finished by tack- 
ing tar felting on to the frame, then board in, and from 
the inside tack the lapped edges of felt to the board- 
ing. This would make it wind tight and warm enough 



102 POULTRY CULTURE. 

to defy an arctic winter. Built of matched spruce, the 
cost single is $85, and double $160 each. But as differ- 
ent localities will vary in cost we refrain from giving 
specifications ; each tenement will house fifty fowls in 
health and productive condition. 

The droppings from fowls are very poisonous, and 
it is very essential that they have thorough ventilation. 
At the same time we must not expose the flock to a 
direct draught of air. Fowls left to themselves will 
not stand in a draught, and when compelled to, they 
take cold as easily as does the human family. 

The ventilators should reach the floor. In winter, 
ventilate from within three inches of the floor, and in 
summer from both top and bottom of the room. The 
bad air falls and is drawn off from the bottom, and 
saves the heat made by the solar action by your glass 
fronts, and as the warm air rises for the same reason 
to ventilate from top we lower the temperature and 
make the room cool and comfortable. In the winter, 
when dull cold weather at times collects the congealed 
respiration from the fowls in an anchor frost, this is 
soon disposed of by burning a kerosene light for a 
short time, and the opening for a short time of the 
upper ventilation, and all that damp, chilly sense of 
feeling when visiting the house will be disposed of. 
Remember this and see to it in time to save you many 
cases of roup, and thereby keep up the egg production. 
A window 4x6 feet in the extension front and one 
5x3^ in the swinging front, the sill eighteen inches 
from the floor, will warm and light the rooms, dry out 
the gravel loam, which will help in the work of deodor- 
izing the dropping, enabling you to keep a larger num- 



POULTRY CULTURE. 103 

ber on the same space than otherwise. The plan of 
having the whole front constructed of glass is bad, for 
in that case the house becomes too warm in the day- 
time and cools rapidly at night, making so much 
change in the temperature as to work disastrously. 
Even with the windows we recommend if in winter 
shutters were used to close over them they would make 
the house much warmer through the night. 

Avoid all permanent or box-made nests, which be- 
come harbors for lice. Avoid also the old plan of an 
inclined plane for roosts, for all the fowls will strive to 
occupy the highest perch, and many a fight and fall 
will be the result, which will vastly increase the list of 
casualties, while the low and level plan saves many 
from lameness and internal injury; for while a hen will 
walk up to her perch, if she has the chance she will in- 
variably fly down. Roosting low makes them less 
breachy ; even the smaller breeds, if reared on low 
perches, will not require a fence more than four and a 
half to five feet high to fence them in. The floor of 
the house should be kept covered three to four inches 
deep with a coarse-fine gravel, not so fine as to be 
called sand, yet having a loam mixture in it. This will 
deodorize all the filth and stench, besides making a 
loose and soft substance to alight upon in descending 
from the roosts 

Across the rear of the laying room construct a plat- 
form three and a-half feet wide, thirty inches from the 
floor, and one foot above the same make the roosts by 
having them extend from back to front across the plat- 
form, eleven short roosts three and a third feet each. 
This can be done by two stringers, one at the back, 



104 POULTRY CULTURE. 

hinged to the house, the other thirty inches forward 
furnished with legs one foot long, the whole to swing 
up while cleansing the platform, which should be done 
every morning where fifty fowls are kept in a flock, and 
not be left till afternoon. 

Why do I not have the roosts longwise ? A boy would 
say " Because." I say so to, for fowls will crowd and 
will roost very near the same place in the roost each 
night. These short roosts will hold but five birds. If 
two long roosts were put in longwise, they would all 
crowd for the back roost, and the front one would be 
used by those unable to get a foothold on the back 
one. Can you not see that such a plan is best ? Fowls 
are more sensitive than they are credited with being. 
This crowding will effect the egg-basket. One of my 
breeders who has bred Light Brahmas for me twelve years 
says : " When you come over here leave the dog at 
home, for the excitement caused by him among the 
hens costs me a dozen eggs every time he comes, and 
some soft-shell eggs laid at night upon the roost." So 
everything about your building that will conduce to a 
quiet and comfortable life means a gain for you in eggs. 
The width of these roosts should be about two and a 
half inches, the sharp corners rounded off. 

Under the platform it would be well to construct a 
rack to hold common nail kegs. Let them be laid on 
their sides with a stringer three inches wide against 
which the open end of the kegs may rest and face 
inward, so that the fowls will approach the nest from 
under the platform. The fifteen feet will enable you 
to get in twelve kegs, or nests. Make holes in the bot- 
tom large enough to admit the hand to gather the 



POULTRY CULTURE. 105 

eggs. The rack being portable the kegG can be re- 
moved at will to be scalded or lime-washed, to prevent 
lice from infesting them. The nests will be just high 
enough to cause the fowls to take a short spring to 
approach them, and as they step in they cover the 
nest ; having laid, they jump down and are away from 
them. Nests so low and easy of access that a fowl can 
stand upon the floor and reach the egg are conducive 
to egg-eating, while this plan, with one or two earthen 
nest eggs kept in the nest, will seldom bring about 
the evil. The plan gives a sense of security and 
secrecy. If you have only a village lot, and are limited 
in space, and the flock has from necessitj^ to be con- 
fined upon the least possible amount of ground, each 
house and shed should have two yards, that one may 
be sowed with oats while the fowls occupy the other — 
and when the oats are four to five inches high, let the 
flock occupy this yard while the other is treated in like 
manner, thus furnishing the raw vegetable food so 
necessary to them. Besides, this treatment keeps the 
yard clean and sweet. These fowls, so yarded, will eat 
all, even scratching the roots out of the ground, giving 
them a needed exercise. 

Do not forget that if you would reap the best re- 
sults in eggs, and eggs that will hatch, that the closer 
you follow our advice in this matter the better you will 
be off. If you sow these yards but once in a season 
you may fairly calculate that your profit will be fifty 
cents on the dollar, and the death rate in your flock 
large. Go into a hen yard that is so small as to be 
barren, and cut down with a spade, and for about an 
inch of the crusted top you will find a dirty green mat- 



106 POULTRY CULTURE. 

ter, full of poison to the fowls. Do you wonder that 
they die of cholera or suffer from scurvy legs when 
confined for months in such yards with no green food ? 
Why should they be otherwise? And yet we keep 
them there and eat the fowls so confined. 

We are aware that small flocks give the owner a 
greater individual yield in eggs, but when we are 
building for their sole use, and catering for large 
numbers of them as a business, we can best do this in 
houses of two tenements for fifty each. Poultry-raising 
must of necessity become of more and more import- 
ance, and in view of all this we have recommended the 
building to that end. If 5,000 fowls are to be kept, it 
is an easy matter to construct fifty such houses. If 
you wish to limit your operations to a home flock, then 
build a small house on the same plan. 

To build for the use of growing chickens on the 
farm, or wherever the natural way is adhered to, which 
is of course the best way, we have but one plan to 
offer. We have to nearly grow the young stock to 
replace the old before we are ready to kill off the old 
fowls. These chickens from this necessity have to occupy 
their chicken quarters into the fall of the year ; at least 
it is most convenient for us that they should. Many a 
breeder uses old three-cornered coops because they 
used to do so in old times ; many know better, and are 
aware that the extra growth and merit in one season's 
crop of chickens would more than pay the cost of new 
ones, yet he will keep on making them do, knowing 
that the sooner he shall resort to comfortable quarters 
that all subsequent seasons the change will bring him 
a profit. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



107 



Our plan is to hatch enough chickens at one time 
that we may double up the broods and give twenty- 
chicks to one hen to occupy the coops, as per cut 
below, being three feet wide at the base and five feet 
long, with thirty-inch posts, with a paling frame, the 
paling being three inches apart, used in the front while 
the hen is confined therein with her brood, the same 
being removed at weaning time and three roosts put in, 




MODEL COOP FOR TWENTY CHICKENS. 

as indicated by the three dark spots. In this house 
the twenty chickens can harbor till the fall. Five 
such coops as these would serve a colony of one hundred 
chickens if placed twenty-five feet apart, say upon 
a square, 30x30, with the odd one in the center. When 
the males are removed, at twelve weeks old, to be 
shipped as broilers, two of the coops could be removed 
to serve a later hatched colony, the three coops re- 
maining would be sufficient to accommodate the 
pullets till they were removed in the fall to the winter 
quarters made vacant by the killing of the old stock. 



108 POULTRY CULTURE. 

These quarters should be thoroughly cleansed with 
lime-wash, and fresh gravel and loam supplied to the 
floor to the depth of four inches, when they would soon 
repay your outlay by discounting in the shape of eggs. 

A single brood of chicks will thrive and take care 
of themselves. With care, one hundred can be reared 
in a flock, and all do well. But if more are to be 
reared care should be taken to confine those of the 
same age together — the February and March chickens 
in one field, April and May chickens in another, and 
those hatched later in a third. With such care each lot 
will be found to do well ; but if running all together 
the young ones will get trampled to death by the 
older ones. One hundred chickens hatched the same 
week, colonized upon one feeding lot, would all grow 
up an even lot. These colonies could be located so as 
to feed four hundred upon an acre of land, and the 
result be good. 

Smaller coops for village use, where one or two flocks 
are reared for home use, can be made thirty inches 
square, sides fifteen inches high, double roof, sides, end 
and roof made of matched board, except the front end, 
which may be palings three inches apart ; these will ac- 
commodate twelve to fourteen chickens till the fall. 
Many think anything will do for a chicken coop, and 
stakes driven in front of a barrel are resorted to regard- 
less as to how near one paling is to another. In confin- 
ing hens with their chickens the distance between the 
palings should be no nearer than to confine the hen, and 
when she weans her brood the door to the coop should 
be left open. The nailing on of the slats so near as to 
make it difficult for the chickens to squeeze through 



POULTRY CULTURE. 109 

is the fruitful cause of so many crooked, ill-formed 
fowls. We have seen an entire brood so deformed 
from being reared beside a picket fence. It is pleasant 
to see a bird grow up perfect. But this deformity 
many times makes a difference of ten dollars in a man's 
purse at show time. Keep this in mind, my amateur 
reader, when building for the chickens. 

In these larger coops it will be seen they are fash- 
ioned with an awning front. The natural tendency of 
the chickens to stand outside the palings to feed makes 
this a necessity in wet weather, and it prevents the hot 
sun from making the coops uncomfortable in hot 
weather. He who looks out for these little comforts 
in building does more than he thinks toward filling his 
purse in the fall. It is the last point that wins the 
prizes. In the use of the same coops spoken of, if they 
can be placed under a shed it will pay. We may have 
four birds to score ninety-two points and bring us ten 
dollars each, but if by care and these little attentions 
we bring one up to ninety-five points and win over all, 
the price oftentimes reaches ten times that sum. One 
such bird pays for this extra care and building for their 
comfort. One thing is certain, we never reach this 
excellence when we are careless of the well-being and 
comfort of our growing stock. And it is fair to say 
the whole flock is correspondingly better if your best 
one has beaten in a fair competition your neighbor's 
best. 

We have no sympathy with the breeder who stands 
under a sun umbrella and watches his hens with their 
extended wings gasping for breath when he complains 
of the death-rate in his flock. Watch at ten to eleven 



110 POULTRY CULTURE, 

o'clock in a warm day and see the chickens and fowls 
retire to a shady spot and remain till four o'clock in 
the afternoon. If your yards are not furnished with 
shade trees then provide for shade by building open 
sheds. The expense will not be great and will prove 
to be most economical in the long run. In all build- 
ings for poultry it is not the question what a coop costs, 
but what is the difference between what good coops 
and the very best coop will cost. A coop is a necessity. 
If the better one will secure you ten more eggs in a 
year from each hen, then in building for fifty hens it is 
policy to build the best one at an additional cost of 
fifty dollars. For the investment brings a twenty per 
cent income on the same. We believe the best is the 
cheapest in the end. 

A building set apart for incubation is one of im- 
portance, yet it can be used for wintering males when 
not in use for hatching chickens. This can be any size 
one cares to make it, but it must be heated in winter 
to sixty degrees if you are to reap the best results. 
To build one convenient, and to accommodate the 
largest number possible, 1 should build 18x36 feet, 
with 7-foot posts, leaving a walk around the entire 
room 2^ feet wide, and a 3-foot walk down the middle. 
Between these walks I should build two tiers of setting 
rooms, which would give me 120 feet in length and 5^ 
feet in width. This would consist of a shelf on which 
to set the nest, and yard or dust-room to each of 
four feet. The room can be made in sections 4x4, in 
which three hens can dust as they leave the nest 
they occupy on the shelves spoken of, or one can 
carry the plan further and by partitions make each 



POULTRY CULTURE. Ill 

hen a dusting room of fifteen inches wide and four 
feet long. Let the breeder do as he pleases in this. 
The plan gives space for setting ninety-six hens at 
one time. The lower tier can be upon the ground, 
the tier over it, the platform could be covered by 
earth four inches deep and by sprinkling down these 
runs occasionally the heat of the room would preserve 
a humid atmosphere. The nest boxes should be fifteen 
inches square. Being portable, they can be taken away 
at will to be cleansed and made up new. If the house be 
nine-foot posted a third tier of these nest accommoda- 
tions could be added. Let the building end to the south, 
and glass four feet wide extend from sill to gable, the 
door in the north end. For a short time each day open 
door and window and have a draught of air through. 
To air it out in summer they could be left open and the 
room kept comfortable. In winter ventilate from the 
bottom, your ventilations reaching from floor to cupola. 
In heating this house let the temperature be forty at 
the bottom and sixty at the height of a man's head, 
which would be two feet above the second row of nests. 
If three tiers were put in we would let the temperature 
run down so that sixty degrees would register at the 
height of the third row of nests. 

If only the ground was used one could build the 
rows by frames of wire eighteen inches high only, and 
all in portable frames to hook together. So, also, can 
the partition be portable, where two tiers are in use, 
and when you had hatched all the chickens for the 
season they could be taken down and packed away. 
This house in winter is a necessity if broilers are to be 
the business of the breeder. This house must be 



112 POULTRY CULTURE. 

warmed. Why, there are not three hens in five that 
show a disposition to set before April ist that will 
hatch a chicken, for the reason they have not heat 
enough to counteract the atmospheric influence and to 
hatch the eggs. The warming of this room reduces 
the atmospheric influence to summer heat, and leaves 
the heat of the hen to do the work. Nature times the 
incubating inclinations of the fowls and birds at a season 
when sixty degrees of Fahrenheit heat is the average 
temperature. This plan is the best as a saving of labor. 
If you will carry it out to setting two hens in one yard, 
dividing into thirty inch by four feet yards, there will 
be no trouble, and when they come off with their broods, • 
as a rule, will agree. We would heat the house by 
means of a common hot-house boiler, running the 
waterpipe around the entire room, the boiler being 
stationed in the north end, at the door, and passing the 
pipe down the west side and returning on the east. 

These nests I would make up by a layer of carbolic 
lime in the bottom and hay chaff above, with as Httle 
hay or cut straw as would nicely form a nest, which 
should be made flat on the bottom (and by watchful- 
ness be kept so), the nest being large enough for 
the eggs to lay without crowding, the shape to be as 
near the shape of a well formed egg cut through from 
end to end. If there is a raiser who does not compre- 
hend my meaning, let him boil an egg hard and cut it 
in two, longways, the flat side will be the shape of the 
bottom of the nest, in miniature. If chaff cannot be 
had, then fill the boxes up with sandy loam two inches, 
and sprinkle the earth well with water, and spread a 
handful of carbolic lime over it and build the nest of 



POULTRY CULTURE. 113 

hay or straw, not using a large amount. The heat will 
draw the moisture — the moist heat so necessary for 
success. 

From November to March, even in these warmed 
houses, put but eleven eggs under a hen, unless she be 
of good size, when thirteen may be the number. After 
April 1st thirteen may be the uniform number used. 
Place all the nests on the outside, and feed from the 
middle passage, water and feed arranged so they can 
run their heads out through the slats to obtain it. 
These birds will invariably feed and drink before nine 
o'clock each morning, when all the droppings should be 
raked off by means of a fine rake and taken away, and 
the house have the airing out spoken of above. 

After April ist the chicken houses designed for 
twenty chickens (see cut) could be utilized by putting 
in a row of three nests on the back side, making the 
nests on the ground, and a portable yard for dusting 
be attached, all being outdoors. When they hatch, the 
house should be thoroughly whitewashed and one of 
the hens left with twenty chickens, before spoken of. 

A very good mode of setting hens is to sink a barrel 
on its side one-third into the ground, filling up with 
earth even with the earth on the outside, using a small 
quantity of hay to form the nest, especially in early 
spring. This, you see, will prevent the cold air from 
reaching the eggs through the hay from the under side 
and chilling them, while the earth in the barrel becomes 
heated by the hen, which increases your chances for 
an early brood. Place one of the small chicken-coops 
described in the front of the barrel, and by the means of 
a slide-door admit the hen to and from the nest. The 



114 POULTRY CULTURE, 

coop becomes a feeding and dusting yard for her while 
sitting, and a home for her and her brood when hatched, 
besides preventing her from deserting her eggs. As 
the season approaches June and July pour into the 
barrel, before putting in the earth, a half-pailful of 
water. The heat of the hen will draw the moisture up 
and prevent too rapid evaporation in the eggs, and 
secure for you a better hatch. 

By setting an even number at a time and doubling 
up the broods you can reset the hens thus released 
(which generally do better the second time), by which 
means you secure eighteen clutches of chickens from 
twelve incubating hens, which will produce, as a rule, 
about one hundred and twenty-five chickens that will 
be marketable. The overplus will be found to not 
more than make good the casualties and deformities. 

This plan of hatching and rearing the chickens away 
from your fowl-houses releases them from and pre- 
vents the incubation of millions of lice, which are 
generally produced by setting the hens where they are 
in the habit of laying. If you wish to see every louse 
and red-spider louse, which is the same as the bed-bug 
for the human family, concentrated into twenty inches 
square, just allow a few hens to incubate in the laying 
room of your hen-houses. The day before the hens 
are to hatch, let the place of setting them be what it 
may, it will pay you to sprinkle the eggs and wet down 
about the nest, and to make sure that the nest is per- 
fectly flat. At this time the egg-shells are very brittle. 
If the nest is hollow, so all the eggs press toward the 
center, the chances are that there will be more or less 
killed in the nest and more or less eggs will ,be- 



POULTRY CULTURE. 115 

come crushed in, and the chicken prevented from 
liberating itself. The chicken first, by aid of a little 
cone-shaped nib on the beak, presses against the shell 
and chips a hole. Air begins then to inflate its 
lungs, and he in his struggle begins to turn in the shell, 
he all the time pressing this nib against the shell. In this 
way he cuts a seam around the shell, and when this is 
accomplished the shell falls in twain and the chicken 
comes to the outside world independent of all else but 
warmth and feed to secure its growth. 

If these shells become crushed in, then the chicken 
cannot turn in the shell, and it dies. The same is the 
result if the hen has set too constantly, and the chicken 
is dried in the shell, as it is called. The last is helped 
by immersing the eg^ in warm water for a moment the 
day before they are due to hatch. Sometimes breeders 
chip a hole in the shell and thus remove the chicken. 
When this occurs the keeper should break the shell 
away from the opening, and if where the chicken has 
broken through the inner lining looks dry for about a 
circle of half an inch down then the chicken must be 
liberated. This is best done by crumbling the large end 
of the egg, then rupture the skin and roll it toward the 
other end to prevent bleeding ; liberate the head only 
and leave the chicken's body in the other half of the 
shell and place it under the hen again. If the hen has 
covered her eggs in a proper manner for twenty-one 
days, the morning of the twenty-second they should be 
examined and the shells broken, and if the chickens are 
alive they should be helped out, but as a rule those 
helped from the shell on or after the twenty-second day 
seldom live to amount to anything. The hen as a 



116 POULTRY CULTURE. 

rule will remain on the nest after the chickens are 
hatched for twelve to twenty hours, or till the chickens 
nearly all come out from under her and show a disposi- 
tion to eat. Then she will leave her nest with her 
brood. If the hen is to be reset the chickens should be 
taken from her as fast as hatched and passed under the 
hen we intend to rear them, for when a hen once calls 
her brood from the nest she will seldom submit to be 
reset. 

Many rear their chickens artificially after hatching 
them by the natural means, and make each hen set for 
six to nine weeks, and even for twelve weeks has a hen 
been induced to remain on the nest. Turkeys are easily 
taught to do the work of incubation ; they are easily 
managed for that length of time. We think that even 
where artificial means are used no one should buy 
an incubator till they have first learned the lesson 
to rear artificially the chickens. This can be easily 
done by taking care of a season's flock hatched by 
hens, by the use of brooders, and buildings for their 
use, and as the broiler business commences in October 
one is ready for practical operation when chicken- 
hatching by natural means has closed. 

We have known of instances where hundreds of 
chickens have been reared during a winter when the 
only brooding facilities afforded them consisted of sev- 
eral wooden boxes lined with flannel or woolen carpet 
or old buffalo skin, the boxes being placed near a stove 
at night and in severe weather. There are many farm- 
ers who rear all their spring chickens in this way, 
and some of them sell several hundred dollars' worth 
every year. There is absolutely no obstacle to the 



POULTRY CULTURE. 117 

successful prosecution of this work, provided always 
that the chickens are given the proper treatment. If 
they have warmth, fresh air, cleanliness, freedom from 
vermin, gravelly sand to run on, a variety of food and a 
daily supply of either chopped grass, oats, cabbage or let- 
tuce, they may be raised in any number desired. These 
conditions are absolutely essential. 

There can never be an artificial mother invented 
that will equal the mother hen, and when we consider 
the many failures of the hen to hatch her eggs in the 
early part of the season we can see of what value an 
incubator perfect in its work would be, for it makes 
every hen, inclined to sit, of far more than double her 
original value, for she can be furnished chicks to rear 
of double the number she would be able to hatch, and 
in cases of failure to hatch a full brood of twenty to 
thirty chicks can be supplied for her to rear. There is 
no artificial heat to compare with the breast and feath- 
ers of the hen. Yet the farmer's plan awakens an in- 
ventive genius for a brooder, and teaches us a lesson of 
not relying too much upon the brooder itself. We are 
aware that hens crush quite a percentage of the chick- 
ens in the nest. To obviate this all hens that have 
been sitting sixteen days on eggs can be relieved of 
them and the eggs placed in the incubator during the 
last three to five days of incubation, and that percent- 
age saved, thus making a good incubator of far more 
value as an auxiliary with the hens in this important 
work of reproduction. Our plan for a chicken house is 
different from all others we have examined, and our 
brooders different. But Mr. Tribon, of Brockton, Mass., 
has the same thing, to all intents and purposes, only he 



118 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



uses a plain sheet of zinc instead of the water pans, 
relying on dry hot air, which we are not sure is just as 
well in the winter as to secure the moist heat over hot 
water, as per our plan of brooders. 



1 



5X (2 



\/" V N^ V" V^ ^ ^ 



5X12 



5X12 



5X12 



5X 12 



5X12 



VWAWyVRAi^qA^[^lA.W^W.^ray 



5X12 



5X12 



Hall Way 3 ft. wide -6 Inches lower than the Chicken Rooms 



Fig. 2 
GROUND PLAN FOR CHICKEN ROUSE. 





Fig. 3 



Fig. 4- 



A BROODER. 



Our chicken house is 15x40 feet in the main build- 
ing, cut up into a hallway (see ground plan), 3x40 feet, 
and six inches lower than the chicken rooms, eight in 
number, matching the eight wire projections 5x4 in 
front to enable the chicks to take the air at will. They 
should be induced to take advantage of them by feed- 




t4 -^ 



119 



POULTRY CULTURE. 131 

ing- them meat, exciting them to exercise while enjoy- 
ing the tidbits of their noon meal. Each of the 5x12 
foot rooms is furnished with a brooder (see Figs. 3 and 
4), the base (Fig. 3) being made square in front with a 
door to admit the lamp, the two sides and rear end 
being cut mitering, so as to have a base nine inches 
high. On this base rests a galvanized iron pan three- 
fourths of an inch deep, the rear flange wide enough to 
let through a tube of tin one and one-half inches in 
diameter, that all smoke may escape from as well as 
give draft to the lamp. Above the flange of the pan 
(by which means it it is held in its position) a strip one- 
half inch, or say three-fourths inches thick, and one 
inch wide is nailed, except on each side and end is left 
a gap of one inch, making an air-hole three-fourths by 
one inch (see Fig. 3.), and upon this rim rests the 
floor of the brooder one-half inch thick, thus leaving 
between the floor and the water in the pan an air-space 
one inch in height. In the center of brooder floor see 
tube two inches high and one and one-half inches in 
diameter that draws the hot air up from over the tank 
as it becomes warmed in its passage from the sides 
through the air-hole over the water, and it is radiated 
out over the chicks and escapes through the fringe of 
the brooder cover (Fig 4), the cover resting on the base 
(Fig. 3), as indicated by dotted lines. The brooder is 
heated by a kerosene lamp of the Diamond burner 
style. The base of brooder is 45x48 inches when it 
rests on the floor, and 30x36 on the floor of the 
brooder, the cover being 22x30 inches long. On a 
warm night the chicks will lay all round the cover on 
the rim of the floor outside, and for this reason we 



122 POULTRY CULTURE. 

make the cover smaller than the floor of the brooders. 
By our ground plan you see from the hallway these 
brooders (Fig. 2, A) are fitted into the chicken rooms 
so the floor of the brooder only rises two inches above 
the chick's earth floor ; this gives them easy access to 
the brooder. This we believe the best and cheapest 
brooder one can build, except Mr. Tribon's, of Brock- 
ton, spoken of. In winter we see no reason why it 
would not work as well, and come a trifle cheaper. 

These conveniences with the house is sufificient to rear 
four hundred chickens to four weeks old, when they can be 
removed to a house of like dimensions, which may be 
heated by a stove, and the chicks taught to go to roost 
on low roosts, as we do not believe in the use of the 
brooder more than four weeks. At the end of the four 
weeks in their second house they can be removed to the 
houses described before for growing stock and laying 
hens, with three houses like the one illustrated, using 
the brooder for four weeks in one only ; one has ac- 
commodation for the growing of twelve hundred broil- 
ers all the time, as at twelve weeks the males are ready 
for market and the females should be taken to their 
laying quarters. Fifty are kept in a colony through 
all these stages of growth. 

EVERY CORNER A DEATH TRAP. 

Print this in large letters and post it up in every 
house used for chicken raising. For this reason we 
represent all the chicken rooms with rounded corners, 
made so by sheet tin or straw board or leather-board or 
tar felting. Let the circle be as large as the middle of 
a flour-barrel. Chickens will huddle in a corner, and a 



POULTRY CULTURE. 133 

corner is a dangerous place to be crowded into ; being 
unable to liberate themselves they go down and under, 
being deprived of air, and many are trampled to death. 
The care to dispose of the corners in these rearing de- 
partments will save you many dollars in the course of 
a year. 

These brooders will not do all the work alone. The 
house must be kept warm enough to keep the chickens 
from crowding the brooders. When the house is cool 
they will cling to the brooders. This cannot be a 
healthy condition of things. A stove will answer all 
purposes, for the brooders themselves will do much 
toward heating the house if the ventilation be prop- 
erly cared for. The house should be ventilated from 
the hall-way, it being the lowest place ; yet it should 
be furnished with ventilation at the roof in seasons of 
wet, cold weather, that all dampness from roof by frost 
may be carried off. Keep the house at fifty degrees 
six inches from the floor. This would be sixty-five to 
seventy degrees at the height of a man's head. Re- 
member the chickens are compelled to stay on the 
floor. If this is done they will not use the 
brooders except as they come in from their out- 
door noon runs and at night. Thus they escape the 
unhealthy conditions that follow huddling, which is in- 
creased by a cold house. Two houses such as we have 
described, with an incubator of five hundred and sixty 
egg capacity will enable a breeder to hatch and rear one 
hundred chickens a week. This will give him four weeks 
for each incubation, and only the hatching of about 
seventy-two per cent of reasonably fertile eggs — those 
that stand the tenth day test. This, it will be seen by 



124 POULTRY CULTURE. 

our experiment in the foregoing chapters, will be far 
below the work that others have accomplished, but a 
reasonable average and about that of the natural way- 
experienced by the fowls themselves. 

All this care you must learn by experience, and, as 
we have said, it will cost you less for this experience if 
you furnish yourself with all these conveniences before 
buying the incubator. This getting experience with 
large numbers of chickens before we know how to 
creep has driven three-fourths of all who have under- 
taken it out of the business, and poultry culture has been 
condemned by them when it was owing to their own 
incapacity or want of experience that led to failure. 

My reader, if you have no money to put into the 
business, keep out of it, for poultry keeping is not a 
business to be run successfully without capital. When 
we say that poultry will pay the most for the amount 
of capital invested we do not mean it to be understood 
that you can make poultry pay with no capital. Con- 
stant watchfulness does the work. We have catered for 
fifty chickens in a brooder, because we think a woman 
can take care of twice if not three times as many as 
she can in larger broods, where five times that number 
run together. We believe also that the chickens will 
be larger. For the food consumed at the end of four 
months of age, if the increase of weight should be but 
one ounce each, how long will it take you to pay for 
the extra cost of building? Take your pencil and 
see what an item it will be to a man who rears but 
five thousand chickens a year. Three hundred and 
thirteen pounds of poultry meat per year will build quite 
a village of breeding-houses in the course of ten years. 



/A-^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 



FEED AND CARE OF FOWLS. 

IN the closing of a previous chapter we left our 
reader with the chickens to be taken from the hatch- 
ing quarters. But we go back a step to consider the 
feed and care of the fowls to produce the eggs in the 
shell fit for incubating. We have given you our plans 
for houses. The fowls who occupy them may be fed 
with boiled vegetables (purslane, cabbage, squash, seed- 
cucumbers or potatoes), mashed with wheat-bran and 
cornmeal while hot, feeding the same at the morning 
meals in such quantities as will be eaten up by nine 
o'clock, allowing the flock to forage till four or five o'clock, 
when a full feed of small grain and a small portion of 
corn may be given to them, adding to the morning 
meal fresh ground scraps or meat in some form, three 
days in each week. This will be found sufficient till 
the frost prevents the further growing of forage crops ; 
then change the feed to what soft food they will eat up 
at the morning meal, — small grains, sunflower seed, 
etc., at noon, and what corn they will eat at evening. 
This will maintain the most even animal heat for the 
twenty-four hours ; it being health and heat that pro- 
duce the eggs, the hen being simply a machine which, 
if carefully run, must produce the o.^^ or die. During 
the winter months, feed chopped cabbage and turnips, 

135 



126 POULTRY CULTURE. 

and rowen hay. Rowen clover is an excellent substi- 
tute for grass, and is the only thing we can find that 
will produce eggs that will make the golden sponge- 
cake in winter. 

It also preserves the plumage in all the brightness 
and beauty possible, and is a grand help toward pre- 
serving the vitality of the eggs for incubating pur- 
poses; nor must we forget to feed, during confinement, 
in the soft feed, as often as once each week, sulphur in 
doses of a dessertspoonful to ten hens. Pulverized 
charcoal will be found an excellent thing to occasion- 
ally feed with the soft food, or in a crushed form, for 
the fowls to go to at will, — charred grain being the 
very best form, but it is most expensive ; corn, roasted 
like coffee, being a nice way to furnish it. In a nut- 
shell, let the adults who are to produce the eggs we set 
be fed with vegetables, fish, flesh and grain daily, if con- 
venient to do so. Let the vegetables be mashed with 
excelsior meal. To care for the flocks, to get the best 
eggs and the largest number, is really a science. When 
one keeps a large number it is an easy matter to have 
a. ^^ fat hens' coop,'' so-called. Eggs laid by an exceed- 
ingly fat hen seldom prove fertile. The keeper who is 
up to his business has two pens, which he calls the 
lea7i quarters and the fat pen. At night, as he goes his 
rounds, and feels of the birds to note their condition, 
he will notice one, it may be, or two — sometimes three, 
in a flock of twenty-five, that are excessively fat. These 
should be placed by themselves and fed with sulphur, 
wheat, bran and oats till reduced to a nice working 
order, when their eggs may be expected to hatch. 
Again, the keeper finds here and there a lean one ; of 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



127 



these he makes a pen, to which he feeds meal, corn 
and fat-producing food till he betters their condition, 
and thus he shows himself master of his business, and 
will find in the end the profits on the right side of the 
ledger. Ventilation, feed and flesh all in perfect order, 
and there will be no grumbling because the birds look 
shabby or that the eggs do not hatch. 





SILVKK-SFANliLED HAMBUJRGS. 



128 



CHAPTER IX. 



FROM SHELL TO GRIDDLE. 

IN treating this subject we have nothing new to 
offer beyond the experience of thirty years with 
the different breeds. We know that regularity in 
feeding, protection from storm and cold winds, warm, 
well ventilated quarters, and wholesome, sweet food, all 
these are essential to success in poultry raising. Exer- 
cise in the open air a part of each day is an absolute 
necessity. If engaged in rearing fowls artificially you 
cannot be told too often that the chickens must go out 
of doors, if but for ten minutes each and every day ; 
that the houses must be kept warm enough to prevent 
their going to the brooder only as a child runs to the 
stove to warm as they come in from the sharp air of 
winter, or retire for the night. This, and the regular 
course of feeding which we now offer you in a bill of 
fare, is our course pursued from shell to griddle and 
the spit. 

BILL OF FARE. 

'"I The first meal for chickens after being taken from 
the nest should be boiled eggs, chopped fine, shells 
and all, also baked corn cake or excelsior meal cake 
crumbled into scalded milk ; no fluid as drink but the 
scalded milk. After the first twenty-four hours, after 

129 



130 POULTRY CULTURE. 

their gizzards have become filled with egg-shell, gravel, 
etc., let their meal in the early morning be excelsior 
meal, bread and scalded milk; at ten o'clock granulated 
corn; at two o'clock the excelsior, bread and milk, and at 
six o'clock canary seed, millet seed, and granulated 
corn. This if the hen be confined and the chickens 
have their liberty to find grass and insect food. Thus 
feed till two weeks old, when it will be found that few 
or any deaths will have occurred, and the chickens 
started well for rapid and vigorous growth. If the 
season be winter and we are raising them by artificial 
means — by brooders — and all food furnished to them 
in confined quarters, like those described in our 
chicken house and its brooders, we would have a rule 
by which the attendant should feed them each and 
every day, to-wit : after they were two weeks old, add- 
ing to the above mode of feeding till two weeks old, 
boiled beef or sheep's haslets, chopped fine, one meal 
per day ; also green oats raised in frames at the win- 
dows, cut fine. To take its place when short of the 
green oats, steamed rowen clover, chopped fine ; this, 
with the use of boiled fish, would supply the place of 
the green grass and such food natural for them in sum- 
mer, without which chickens cannot be reared. They 
must have vegetables, meat and grain, and have them 
every day, if good results are to follow. Chickens at 
two weeks old, thus started for us, we would continue 
the bill of fare, to-wit : 

MONDAY. 

Breakfast. — Excelsior meal, bread and milk. 
Ten O'CLOCK Meal. — Boiled meat, chopped fine, 
with steamed clover. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 131 

Two O'CLOCK Dinner. — Excelsior meal, bread and 
milk. 

Supper. — Granulated corn, oats and barley. 

TUESDAY. 

Breakfast. — The broth in which meat was boiled, 
thickened while it was boiling (and when the meat was 
taken out) with excelsior meal. 

Ten O'CLOCK. — Chopped mangel wurzel beets, 
and after eating what they would, allow to finish fill- 
ing their crops with granulated corn. 

Two O'CLOCK Dinner. — The balance of the broth, 
mush and a pan of sour milk, if to be had, to pick at till 
five or six o'clock. 

Supper. — All the granulated corn, oats and wheat 
they would eat should be given. 

WEDNESDAY. 

Breakfast. — Fish chowder made palatable with 
salt and pepper, boiled potatoes, and thickened with 
cornmeal and shorts. 

Ten O'CLOCK. — Oats and wheat, and all the steamed 
clover or green chopped oats they would eat. 

Dinner. — Cracked corn and balance of the chowder 
if not wholly disposed of at the morning meal. 

Supper. — Cracked corn and barley. 

THURSDAY. 

Breakfast. — Chopped sheeps' haslets and warm 
mush of wheat, bran and cornmeal. 

Ten O'CLOCK. — Cracked corn and wheat. 



133 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Dinner. — All the steamed clover they would eat, 
and as dessert what excelsior meal cake they would 
dispose of. 

Supper. — Cracked corn and oats. Give sour milk in 
a pan to go to at will. 

FRIDAY. 

Breakfast. — The meat soup thickened with excel- 
sior meal. 

Ten o'clock. — Green oats, chopped onions and 
light feed of granulated corn. 

Dinner. — Balance of the broth, mush and barley 
to finish up. 

Supper. — Cracked corn and wheat. 

SATURDAY. 

Breakfast. — Raw chopped meat and excelsior 
meal mush, scalded and fed warm. 

Ten o'clock. — Chopped cabbage, lettuce and tur- 
nips, or mangel wurzels, throwing then a little granu- 
lated corn. 

Dinner. — Excelsior mush with barley. 

Supper. — Granulated corn and oats. 

SUNDAY. 

Breakfast. — Fish chowder, warm (made as above). 

Ten o'clock. — Steamed rowen clover and barley. 

Dinner. — Excelsior meal cake and scalded milk. 

Supper. — Cracked corn and wheat with sour milk 
ad libitum. 

It is not absolutely necessary to bake excelsior for 
them after the chickens are two weeks old. It may be 



«* 



POULTRY CULTURE. 133 

scalded, but we think it pays to bake it. We make 
the excelsior meal by grinding into a fine meal in the 
following proportions : twenty pounds of corn, fifteen 
pounds of oats, ten pounds of barley, ten pounds of 
wheat bran. We make the cakes by taking one quart 
of sour milk or buttermilk, adding a little salt and 
molasses, one quart of water in which a large heaping 
teaspoonful of saleratus has been dissolved, then thicken 
all with the excelsior meal to a little thicker bat- 
ter than your wife does for corn cakes. Then bake in 
shallow pans till thoroughly cooked. We believe a 
well appointed kitchen and brick oven pays, and in the 
baking of this food enough for a Aveek can be cooked 
at a time. Our brick -oven should be heated once a 
week, when the sheeps' haslets could be baked so 
they will chop easily on baking day: but if steam 
boilers are used the food can all be steamed easier. 
Granulated corn we secure by first grinding the corn 
into a coarse meal and bolting out the fiour that comes 
from the chit, so-called, or endosperm. Oat groats 
or steamed oats may be fed dry; this is expensive, 
but during the first two weeks will be a very nice food 
for them. After continuing the bill of fare described 
from two weeks till eight weeks old, the chickens can 
be taken to the fowl quarters, and enter on three 
meals per day, which can be what any grown fowl 
would eat. vBut vegetable foo'd and meat food must 
be regularly given, for so long as muscle and bone are 
growing we must cater for them and furnish muscle 
and bone-growing material.^ 

Corn furnishes eleven per cent only of muscle and 
one per cent of bone. 



134 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Wheat, 15 per cent of muscle, i per cent of bone. 

Barley, 17 per cent muscle, 2 per cent bone. 

Oats, 22 per cent muscle, 3 per cent bone. 

Beans, 22 per cent muscle, no bone but rich in 
nerve tissue. 

Thus we have in the excelsior meal feed 17 per cent 
of muscle-growing material and ij4 per cent of bone- 
growing substance. This excelsior meal feed has the 
praise of all who have used it, and when we assert that 
hens lay 20 per cent more eggs, and that Asiatics will 
weigh one pound more at twelve weeks old by its use 
in baked cakes and scalded milk, we but state a fact 
that can be vouched for. But we are asked : Why be 
at the trouble of making this meal when we can feed 
these different grains from day to day? We answer by 
saying. You will not take the pains to feed them 
every day, and in the proportion named. We all know 
that in plant life it is necessary for thrift and growth 
and a full crop that the ground in which it is planted 
must contain the constituents that go to make up the 
plant we would raise ; that if but one of the ingredi- 
ents be wanting that growth ceases, — so it is in this 
excelsior meal. The fact that more eggs are secured 
and larger chickens grown by its use, over the old farm 
way of raising them, should be the one fact to secure 
its use. Let the gain be but two ounces each on five 
thousand chickens in a year and we have six hundred 
and sixty-six pounds of broilers, which, at forty cents 
per pound, gives us the net sum of $266.40, which will 
pay pretty well for making what bread we feed to them 
before they are twelve weeks old. 

Again, we cook the food and it is kept sweet until 



POULTRY CULTURE. 135 

eaten up. No sour pans and fermenting food lying 
about. The old water-and-meal dough that in one 
hour in the sun commences to ferment, the old boards 
and ground, sour as can be, the continued eating of 
this sour mixture off the sour boards and ground, dis- 
turbed state of the bowels, acrid discharges, diarrhoea, 
and death, are all prevented and a rapid growth in- 
stead secured, because the chickens are healthy and 
the pullets raised to lay earlier in life, and to be 
better layers through life for your trouble. Is 
the picture overdrawn? Try the excelsior meal, and 
if we have made a mistake, notify us. We are aware 
that seed food is the natural food for fowls, and for this 
reason we recommend the granulated corn, for it can 
be fed dry with the millet and canary seed to fill their 
crops at night, as we give the adults corn and grain to 
retire on, and substituting the larger grains as they 
grow to be able to swallow and masticate them. We 
are sensible that raw meat can be fed in such quanti- 
ties as to be unwholesome for them. At liberty in the 
summer time they secure all that is necessary till frost 
comes and closes the earth and prevents the earth- 
worms comJng to the surface, and cuts off the insect 
supply, when we must furnish it to them in the shape 
of flesh and fish in a reasonable supply. We have tried 
to designate what that should be in our bill of fare. 

In keeping large numbers of fowls it is easy to cater 
as indicated in the foregoing. Milk is a whole food in 
itself, and where one lives near a creamery skim milk 
and buttermilk can be had at from eight to fourteen 
cents per can. We would keep it on hand for daily use 
even at the highest price named. 



136 POULTRY CULTURE, 

As soon as the males are large enough to weigh 
three pounds to the pair take them to suitable fatting 
pens, furnished with clean gravel, and feed four times a 
day on corn and barley-meal and pork scraps scalded 
together, also corn and barley whole, with crushed 
charcoal in a box, that they may help themselves ; give 
one feed a day of chopped celery and whole corn ; 
darken this coop for two hours after feeding. In ten 
to fourteen days they will be plump and weigh four 
pounds to the pair, and be appreciated by our seaside 
epicures. 

If we are to make roasters of them, if Plymouth 
Rock, grow to five months old, if Brahma, to six and a 
half months old, then shut them up for a two weeks' 
fattening process, as spoken of above, when they will be 
surely first-class roasters. 

As the pullets are to be kept for egg producers, a 
different course should be pursued. We believe first 
in selecting the best layers as stock birds ; we also 
b'elieve they can be reared to be better layers by feeding 
almost wholly muscle and bone material, and avoiding 
all fat-producing food. When eight weeks old let them 
have all the exercise they can be induced to take ; let 
their food be milk, wheat, flesh, fish, and constant 
supply of green vegetable food, and you will find they 
will commence earlier to lay and be the better and 
more prolific egg-machines, for you built them into such 
a structure. Note the diiTerence in the number of eggs 
laid by such a flock as compared with the pullets bred 
haphazard, and who have roughed it for an existence 
up to six months old. 

Through all this course see to it that all drinking- 



/ 



POULTRY CULTURE. 137 

pans are kept clean and that the water be changed at 
the very least once each day. We believe it will pay 
you to do it twice, morning and at four o'clock. Roup 
of itself is not contagious, only as through the drinking 
vessels. It is therefore advisable to have a hospital, 
to which remove all ailing stock. If you do not care to 
doctor them, kill all sick and ailing specimens on 
their discovery. When the chickens reach an age from 
sixteen to twenty-six weeks old, — classing the breed, to 
wit : the Leghorns and other small breed, sixteen to 
twenty weeks ; Plymouth Rock and other middle size 
fowls at eighteen to twenty-four weeks, and Asiatics 
at twenty- six weeks old, — they will be seen to be 
dropping their hackle and tail feathers. At this indi- 
cation be on the look out for what we term distemper, 
which seems as sure to come as measles with children. 
They show very red in face and comb, they act in a 
listless manner, showing a disposition to sit on the 
roost or ground, and move exceedingly slow. As this 
falling of feathers becomes apparent, put at the ratio 
of two grains of bromide of potassium in the water 
they would naturally drink in a day, every other day 
for a fortnight, when the trouble will be disposed of, 
many being prevented from having it at all, others 
having it lightly^' The disease is generally followed by 
thirst, which may oe adjusted by a dose of from one and 
a-half to three grains, as the thirst compels or induces 
them to drink. They generally eat but little while the 
trouble lasts, which will be about three days, when 
they return to their food and all is over. Bad cases, 
where the face swells and the nostrils run, will make it 
necessary to inject into them by the aid of a crowji 



138 POULTRY CULTURE, 

bottom oil filler, kerosene oil, and the throat should be 
\ gargled with the same, when it will be found all that is 
I necessary to ward off the roup in nineteen cases in 
I twenty, and then the twentieth case can be removed 
jas recommended in roup. 

While our bill of fare and care for chickens from 
shell to griddle will apply to both the natural and arti- 
ficial rearing of them, many of my readers will care 
only to raise them to supply home consumption, and 
perhaps some few early chickens that they may show 
them at their fall fairs. Let this be as it may, it is 
never advisable to hatch them till they will be able to 
have quarters on the ground, when they will get the 
young grass by the time they are four weeks old, for 
they will certainly have rheumatism and prove worth- 
less. If you hatch them earlier than this you must 
sow frames erf oats in your kitchen windows, if you 
have no hot-house, that the green oats may be had for 
them each day as a substitute for the grass. These 
frames, set upon the stove and warmed through, will in- 
crease the growth of the oats, and a frame 20x30 
inches will raise oats enough for a brood till the grass 
comes in the spring. We are too many times apt to 
believe»we can get along without this green food, or a 
substitute. But to make sure of success, one should 
have an acre or so of clover, which can be cut three 
times by cutting when, say, six to eight inches high, 
just before it blossoms — left to wilt in the sun and 
finished drying in the barn lofts. In this way secure a 
sufificient crop to make it serve you till you have 
enough for the uses heretofore described. To enable 
your customer for your egg to make the golden-colored 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



139 



custard will be an inducement for them to remain your 
customers; and remember this clover alone will do 
this, fed to hens in winter. Again, be sure of this crop. 




BLACK COCHINS. 



CHAPTER X. 



T 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

O say that the capabihties of poultry husoandry 
have not been even dreamed of, could the artificial 
hatching and raising of the chickens for broilers be 
demonstrated as practical, none will deny. There is 
actually no limit to the industry. Until 1884 ^o one 
can claim the artificial plan as having proved a success. 
The ever-increasing demand of our city hotels and res- 
taurants, the rich families, and continual increase in 
our summer resorts, has proved immense, and the de- 
mand of the future for broilers, who shall estimate what 
it will be? But whoever has seen a demand in the 
country that did not create a supply? There is no 
other resource than that artificial incubation and rear- 
ing of the chickens must meet this demand. The 
question is asked almost daily, " Is there an incubator 
that is reliable in the hands of common people?" We 
answer that in the hands of seventy-five per cent of the 
human race. No. Is there an incubator that a man or 
woman can be taught to run successfully? We answer. 
Yes. And here is the first lesson to be taught, that 
ordinary women and children cannot run incubators. 
All the incubator makers up to one year ago have as- 
serted that " any woman or child can run it." They 

140 



POULTRY CULTURE. 141 

have deserved defeat, and their incubator has been 
worthy only of condemnation. It has been the rock 
on which their enterprise has failed. We beheve there 
are incubators that can be run by intelligent men and 
women, but there are none that can be run successfully 
by people who have not come to the age of judgment, 
for it is safe to say not one incubator in forty that have 
been purchased has been run the second season. And 
there is not an incubator put upon the market that can 
be run successfully by the printed rules sent out with 
it. We made this assertion to one of the most success- 
ful incubator manufacturers, and it was not disputed. 
The assertion is far from being a bold one, when made 
against the incubators collectively. Yet we believe 
"The Year" and the " Machine " have come when we 
may be said 'to be looking upon the dawn of practical 
artificial poultry culture. Let the incubator be what 
make it may, the operator must love the work, learn 
every piece and adaptability of its mechanism. He 
may with profit be well schooled in embryology, the 
influence of the atmosphere upon the eggs and its 
work in connection with evaporation, the humidity of 
the heat, the growth and increase of animal heat en- 
gendered in the shells in conjunction with the temper- 
ature surrounding the machine externally, the regula- 
tion of the heat applied by the lamps or stoves. There 
is not one of them all that does not fluctuate very 
much, and each hour has to be watched and provided 
for. The attendant alone is responsible for all this. 
No child can do this, and not five per cent of the busi- 
ness men and acknowledged smart women we meet can 
do it. When the attendant becomes an expert he so 



142 POULTRY CULTURE. 

controls, as many have become able to do, these in- 
fluences by the sense of feeling, to wit : putting his 
hand into the incubator and judging by the feeling, 
and not by looking at the thermometer, having become 
so to speak a living thermometer. Then the machine 
is safe in such hands ; such persons can be said to be 
masters of the situation. Eternal vigilance has been 
the price paid for this knowledge. With such intelli- 
gence to control them may it be said that we have in 
this year of our Lord, 1885, incubators that contain 
within themselves the conditions nature furnishes for 
hatching eggs. The egg is one of the most beautiful 
of creations; yet how much depends upon the condi- 
tion and care of the hen that laid it whether it ever 
becomes a chicken. 

To the careless observer it consists of ^but two ele- 
ments within the shell, the yelk and the surrounding 
albumen. Yet the careful student finds within these a 
multiplicity of features and conditions quite beyond 
the vision of the ordinary experimenter. 

Now to study an egg requires a trained hand and 
eye. It also requires in the student a knowlege of an- 
atomy, and a skillful manipulation of the microscope. 

As the embryo chicken advances in growth and 
perfection, it is necessary that every phase and re- 
quirement of its embryohood should be studied and 
understood. 

Professors Huxley, Agassiz, Foster, Balfour, Bisch- 
off, Dollinger and Karl Ernst Von Baer, have de- 
voted years to the study of the egg, and to their 
scientific labors we owe most of our knowledge of 
embryology. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 143 

Their studies were confined entirely to the physio- 
logical life of the chick, and none of them pursued 
their labors to a utilitarian end ; that is, they worked 
as scientists, not as inventors. Yet all knowledge 
possible does not come amiss. 

The greatest source of failure has been the endeavor 
to make them self-regulating. Electricity has proved 
too delicate, and therefore too treacherous a means, and 
the temperature has fluctuated. Under the hen 105 
is the extreme the eggs can reach ; and experience has 
shown that if incubators run above 106 during incuba- 
tion there will be a corresponding mortality; that if the 
temperature goes to 1 15 degrees it may not decrease the 
number hatched, yet it will cause a mortality among 
the chickens from twenty-five to sixty per cent. When 
the machines run evenly, never below 99 or above 105, 
or in the use of incubator thermometers the heat be 
maintained at 103 to 106 (they being gauged three 
degrees high), then the mortality would not be beyond 
three per cent over those hatched by the mother hen, 
and, the same care exercised in the rearing of them, one 
would have to be a keen observer to see any difference 
between the incubator and naturally hatched one. It 
is fair also to say, when the machine is allowed to run 
so high that a certain per cent in increase in mortality 
is discernible, that the chickens that live are impaired 
in a like ratio as compared to those hatched and raised 
in the old way. 

As these chickens advance in the embryotic life 
they engender animal heat. This increases each day 
from the tenth to the twenty-first, when they break the 
shell. This demands the attention of the man in 



144 POULTRY CULTURE. 

charge, and a constant change in the means of regu- 
lating the incubator, and should be attended to every 
sixteen hours, to say the least. Then how foolish it is 
to say a machine can run alone. An incubator that 
hatched its chickens at 105 degrees, the moment the 
chickens are removed from it the temperature runs 
down to 92. This shows that the chicks themselves 
influence the heat twelve to thirteen degrees, and a 
machine left to run itself would, when taking into it the 
same amount of air, reach 1 17 degrees. If the regulator 
prevented it by a larger amount of air admitted, the 
moisture in the machine would become exhausted, 
and the chickens dry in the shell and fail to hatch 
at all. It is as the operator becomes an expert and 
able to control all these complications that he or she 
becomes valuable ; and the day is not far distant when 
such experts will command from $1,000 to $3,000 a 
year, for the poultry men have paid out all the money 
they propose to for crude help on incubators ; and the 
incubator that in the hands of even these experts will 
hatch even ten per cent more than its competitors will 
be the one to be used to the exclusion of all others. We 
have been slow to recommend any particular incubator, 
but for practical use the production of broilers in April 
to September ist makes incubators a necessity. The 
eggs must be hatched at a time of year from November 
to March, when hens will not sit. We kick against 
the pricks no longer, and say the time has come for 
a reliable incubator, and experts in the form of intelli- 
gent women to run them and to care for the chickens 
hatched by them. Women, when interested in the 
work, are better than men. We have tried to show 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



145 



you the danger of crowding by the young chickens, 
but ducks can be raised artificially with far less danger 
in this respect. They can be grown in larger numbers 
on the same ground and in flocks of from two to three 
hundred with less danger of death by suffocation. The 
best duck record we have any knowledge of was by the 
use of the Monarch incubator, March i, 1885. One tray 
was filled with duck eggs ; when tested it gave sixty- 
seven fertile eggs, of which sixty-five hatched. May i6th, 
two trays were filled with duck eggs and put in another 




MONARCH INCUBATOR. 



Monarch machine; 168 eggs proved fertile, and 164 
eggs gave us ducks. At the next trial the whole 
incubator was used, and from the 379 fertile eggs 362 
ducklings came forth. It then being too late for 
broilers the machines were used (four of them) solely 
for duck eggs as fast as thirty-five ducks could furnish 
them, till at the present writing 3,000 ducklings can be 
seen upon this farm of James Rankin. Up to the time 
1,800 were hatched, the oldest being but ten weeks old, 
only three ducklings had died from any cause whatever. 
At this time the oldest were being marketed and 



146 POULTRY CULTURE. 

weighing from near eight to eleven pounds to the pair. 
The growth was surprising. The last hatch was July lo, 
when 260 ducklings were hatched from 278 fertile eggs. 
Thus has the percentage been from ninety-two to as 
high as ninety-seven per cent of the fertile duck eggs. 
These green ducks, as they are called, started off at 
■$3.00 a pair in June, selling now (July 17) at $2.00 a pair. 
In the meantime we have been marketing eighty pair a 
week, the average age being nine weeks old and aver- 
age price up to present writing being about $2.40 per 
pair, and their cost twenty-six cents per head. Quite a 
profit for a four-months' business. You can put these 
young ducks into the brooding houses in lots of one 
hundred and fifty each ; they need the brooders only 
about ten days. Their first food should be the boiled 
infertile eggs, boiled hard and mixed with an equal 
amount of excelsior meal bread crumbs — the whole 
peppered a little with cayenne pepper — and scalded 
milk to drink, putting the milk in a fountain so they 
can only put in their beaks to drink ; after the first two 
or three days the baked excelsior meal bread and milk 
can be abandoned, and cornmeal, two parts, oatmeal, one 
part, and wheat bran, one part, with seven to ten per cent 
ground beef scraps, scalded and let soak six to twelve 
hours. This whole mixture can be scalded or mixed 
with skim milk. Feed for first four weeks five times per 
day — three times per day afterward — boiled potatoes 
or other vegetables mashed with ground meal and 
scraps. Ducklings need more meat and vegetables than 
do chickens. When fattening them use milk for drink 
and celery chopped fine for the last week if you wish to 
give them the wild celery flavor of the wild mallard. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 147 

The Pekin duck was used in the foregoing experi- 
ment. During all this time these young ducks have had 
only water to drink given to them in fountain drinking 
vessels in which they could only put their beak. The 
very young duck should be confined in grass runs say' 
20x150 feet. When six weeks old they may have 
a field large enough to keep green. They graze like 
cattle, and grass and vegetables must be furnished 
them constantly. 

Mr. Buffington, on seeing the success above stated, 
put 400 eggs into his Monarch incubator. How many 
infertile eggs were taken out on testing day we did not 
learn, but 323 ducks were hatched and doing well. 
We say so far as ducks are concerned artificial hatch- 
ing and rearing is a success, and their growth rapid and 
the ducklings larger than those hatched and left to 
the natural care of mother ducks. That chickens are 
being raised for broilers successfully we are compelled 
to acknowledge, and we say that while heretofore we 
have been no friend of or believer in incubators we wish 
to be understood that at least we are no longer preju- 
diced, and believe in the possibility that with experts to 
run them they are the only means by which the broiler 
business can be carried on successfully. We have 
cited the use of the Monarch incubator for the rea- 
son that the foregoing has been achieved by it and we 
believe it less complicated and easier regulated and a 
safe machine in the hands of people of general intelli- 
gence. Other incubators are successful, but not being 
personally acquainted with or knowing of experiments 
resulting from them we speak only of this one. 

We give this experiment in duck raising for the 



148 POULTRY CULTURE. 

reason that it is neAv, and a means whereby the fast de- 
cHne in the wild duck and game supply of the country 
in our opinion is to become a substitute. The past 
season thousands of these green ducklings, celery and 
milk and barley fattened, have caused the lips of many 
an epicure to smack, with the accompanying assertion 
that they gave unmistakable evidence of their feeding 
upon young wild celery. The fact is, these ducklings 
so raised and nicely cooked are the best meat that 
wears feathers, and he who has never eaten one so 
reared and fattened has yet to learn what is the finest 
of all poultry. 

To treat of the subject of artificial incubation in an 
exhaustive manner was not our intention. The care of 
chickens artificially we have dealt with in a previous 
chapter, and have expressed all that need be said. The 
use of incubators from October to March 1st for chick- 
ens as broilers, and their use for green ducks from March 
to July, seems to double the poulterer's time and facili- 
ties in their use. May the years to come be as fruitful of 
improvement as have the last three in this direction, 
and poultry culture will maintain its supremacy as an 
agricultural industry. 




CHAPTER XI. 



DISEASES OF FOWLS. 

THEIR MEDICAL TREATMENT. 

WE shrink from writing upon this subject, for we 
are not an M.D., and we only give our views 
upon and treatment of a few of the most fatal diseases 
that we have had occasion to deal with. 

We believe in prevention, and when fowls are sick, 
in extermination, more than in doctoring. When fowls 
have their liberty they are seldom ill, and when they 
are confined, if we are careful to furnish a good supply 
of vegetable food, health generally attends them. 

In most of the fatal diseases there is a poisonous 
fungus growth in the blood. Fowls never perspire, and 
the heart beats one hundred and fifty times per minute. 
The evils that are easily thrown off by perspiration 
with them have to be exhaled by respiration, and as a 
result we find the seat of nearly all the fatal diseases to 
be in the head, throat and lungs. Rapid respiration and 
circulation therefore become necessary to expel the 
vapory excretions. 

The chanticleer of the farm -yard whose liberty is not 
proscribed will have a battle every week and not seem 
the worse for it, while in a similar instance one kept in 

149 



150 POULTRY CULTURE. 

a poorly ventilated house, and fed upon unwholesome 
food, will suffer from inflammation and canker, and in 
very many cases death will follow. And why? Because 
the blood is poor and even poisoned, and unable to do 
the work of repairing the damage until it has thrown 
off the poison from which it is suffering. The former, 
rich in a healthy circulation, commences the work of 
recuperation the moment the wounds of the battle 
stop bleeding. 

We are all aware that iron is one of the very best 
of blood tonics, and if we but observe we shall see that 
fowls kept upon an iron and sulphur charged soil are 
generally more healthy and show better luster in their 
plumage than those kept upon a dry and arid plain. 
The reason is that the vegetable growth is but the em- 
bodiment of the soils, one furnishing rich iron and 
sulphur deposits, the other destitute of them. 

The breeder, if he would be successful, will do well 
to consider his location and furnish artificially that 
which is lacking in his soil. "From dust to dust" 
is true of all things, and it behooves us to see of what 
kind of dust we build our chickens. 

The best doctors are those who watch the patient 
while well, and prevent sickness, instead of waiting for 
symptoms and then doctoring them (the expectant 
plan, so called), and finds his remedies in the regulation 
of the diet. 

So the breeder best takes care of his flock who 
keeps a watchful eye upon them while at roost. If the 
droppings from it show a costive tendency then feed 
freely of vegetables, such as boiled potatoes, turnips, 
or cabbage mashed "with bran and meal while hot. If 



POULTRY CULTURE. 151 

the droppings show a relaxed tendency, then cease 
giving vegetables, and resort to baked johnny-cake, 
corn, and tincture of iron. Sour or sweet milk is one 
of the best things to feed poultry at all times. Fowls 
thus carefully fed are seldom sick, unless it be that they 
have what we term the " distemper." 

DISTEMPER. 

This disease all chickensare heir to, and it generally 
takes them about the time they are from twenty-two to 
twenty-six weeks old, and at the time they are shedding 
their second chicken feathers, preparatory to putting 
on their freedom suits, so to speak. 

If carefully watched little or no medicine is needed, 
and so light is the disease that it hardly deserves a 
place in this catalogue, yet if not jealously watched it 
becomes the most fruitful in the introduction of roup 
and consumption. 

^.-Symptoms. — A listless, quiet mien, a disposition to 
remain on the roost in the day-time, face and comb 
quite red, and a puff or fullness of the face under the 
eye. The second day a white froth is discernible in 
the corner of the eye. A decided loss of appetite is 
also noticeable. 

Treatine7it, — If noticed, and the disease taken in 
hand before the appearance of the froth in the eye, it 
will usually only be necessary to wash the head and 
beak clean, and blow down through the nose into the 
throat either with the mouth or by means of a rubber 
nipple, thus clearing the tear tube, and bathe the head 
and wash the throat with a solution of carbolic acid — 
one part acid to ten parts water. The birds should be 



153 POULTRY CULTURE. 

kept in a quiet place and allowed nothing but water, in 
which place three grains of bromide of potassium per 
day. The best way to administer it, if the fowl will 
drink of its own accord, is to apportion its water to 
what it will take in the day. In this way they take it 
homoeopathically. But if dumpish — neither eating nor 
drinking of their own volition — then administer the 
dose in a pill of soft bread, inject, by means of a crown 
bottom oil dripper, kerosene oil into the nostrils. A 
still better way is by the use of a crooked nozzle rubber 
syringe, placing the point in the cleft of the roof of 
the mouth and syringe the nasal passage clear, when 
the action of the oil will be to allay the inflammation. 
One treatment is sufficient in three-fourths of the cases. 
It seems to run about three days, when they regain 
their usual appearance of health , many have it so 
light as not to be noticed. In aggravated cases, where 
the face is swollen and eyes become watery from the 
closing by inflammation of the tear tubes, the head 
and throat should be thoroughly steamed by the use 
of a large sponge and hot water. The tear tube should 
be cleared (as before explained), a dessertspoonful of 
castor oil given, and the bathing of the face and throat 
with the solution of carbolic acid continued at short 
intervals. 

This distemper may be called a cold or the incipient 
stages of the roup. We will not quarrel about names, 
but simply say that in our opinion it is no more roup 
than a cold is measles. There is no offensive smell to 
the breath as in roup, but if neglected it will excite 
roup. We have not the slightest doubt of this; in 
fact, know it to be the case, and the breeder has the 



POULTRY CULTURE. 153 

choice of adopting the adage, '' A stitch in time saves 
nine," and attending to this mild, easily-managed dis- 
temper, or to neglect it and have that scourge of a 
poultry house — THE ROUP — to contend with. 

ROUP. 

y When roup appears our advice is to kill the affected 
one and turn your attention at once to the flock, giving 
sulphur in the ratio of a tablespoonful to fifteen fowls 
every other day for a week, feeding tincture of iron, 
eight drops to a hen every day in their soft food, 
which will pay to be boiled rice, until treatment is over. 
With this be sure that the ventilation is complete and 
free from direct drafts upon the fowls. For the benefit 
of those who wish to cure the disease we give the fol- 
lowing symptoms and our method of treatment : 

Symptoms. — Swelling of the head, watery discharges 
from the eyes and nostrils, which are very fetid and 
offensive to the smell, following which these dis- 
charges become acrid and result in a congealed yellow 
coating to the mouth and tongue, called canker — 
which we term a poisonous fungus growth in the 
blood. 

Treatment. — Wash and steam the head and throat 
with hot water in which a dash of carbolic acid is 
added. Clear the nasal passage to throat by an 
injection of carbolic water, one part carbolic acid to ten 
parts of water, or by the use of kerosene oil and the 
crooked syringe, as spoken of in distemper. Gargle 
the throat with kerosene oil three mornings running, 
when all the canker of throat and mouth will generally 
cleave off, leaving the mouth and throat red but clean. 



154 POULTRY CULTURE. 

We have seen cruel though ignorant people remove 
this canker of the mouth with a stick or nail. All this 
kind of treatment but aggravates the disease. Give a 
dessertspoonful of castor oil, and follow with a gill of 
milk in which two grains of bromide of potassium has 
been dissolved, night and morning. 

The milk can be easily administered by taking the 
bird by the under beak and drawing the neck upward 
till straight, when the milk poured from a tea-pot will 
run into the crop without the effort of swallowing. 

At the end of about four or five days the effect of 
the bromide in the blood, and the solution of carbolic 
acid as a bath, and the kerosene as a gargle, may be 
seen in the sloughing off of the cankerous substance 
from the tongue and mouth, when the fowl will 
commence to mend. The treatment at this stage 
should be nourishing food, with occasional doses of 
sulphur, and the fowls will regain their health and 
sprightliness. In some cases the bromide seems to fail 
in overcoming the poison in the blood. We have used 
Fowler's solution, one drop a day, and in a week seen 
the birds commence to mend, but when the disease 
hangs on for a long time we think it poor policy to 
breed from such, for we find such birds susceptible to 
colds. They have become so debilitated that their 
recuperation, and the watching for a long time before 
they will lay, makes the hatchet a better means of 
eradicating the disease in those isolated cases. 

CHICKEN POX (or ''DRY ROUP"). 

Symptoms. — An eruption of the comb, face and 
wattles, raised and warty in appearance, and in color a 




White Face Black Spanish, 



155 



POULTRY CULTURE. 157 

yellowish white. When the crests are removed, these 
warty substances resemble a bunch of tiny spiles set 
into the flesh. They bleed profusely. 

Treatment. — Remove the birds from the flock, and 
touch the crowns of their pustules with citric ointment 
and allow them to dry down to a black scab, which will 
be ripe in about seventy-two hours, when, if lifted off, 
will take with it the little white roots of the disease, 
from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in length. 
Give each morning for four days a pill made as follows: 
Tablespoonful of common flour, tablespoonful of flour 
of sulphur, twenty grains cayenne pepper, twenty-five 
to twenty-eight drops '' Fowler's solution." (If the 
Fowler's solution cannot be had, use sixty grains of 
bromide of potassium instead.) Mix with cream, and 
make into twenty pills. 

Dissolve four grains of quinine in half a pint of 
milk, giving half in the morning and half at evening ; 
feed while treating, boiled onions mashed with oatmeal 
and boiled rice. If the disease attacks the eyes so as to 
close them and prevent their eating make the food into 
pellets half the size of one's little finger, which, if 
dipped in milk and the bird held as described in roup, 
will slip down the throat readily. 

If the sulphur acts too powerfully upon the bowels 
scald the milk given, which will check its influence on 
the bowels and cause it to work more strongly in the 
blood. The disease is so like the " yaws," described by 
Dr. Quinn, we are of the opinion that it is a kindred 
one, if not the same. 

Roup sometimes accompanies it, but they are not 
alike. This has a run, and requires from five to seven 



158 POULTRY CULTURE. 

days to treat it. We tried specimens of a strong con- 
stitution by giving milk and water, and without treat- 
ment, which recovered. It is very contagious, and on 
its first appearance kill the specimen afflicted, and by 
the use of vegetables, sulphur and iron treat your flock 
to check its spreading. Cleanse the house in which the 
disease appears as thoroughly as you would a house 
that had been visited by small-pox. It is, like that, a 
cutaneous disease. 

DIPHTHERIA. 

We give to this new and very fatal disease the above 
name on account of its symptoms. 

Symptoms. — The face and throat become exceed- 
ingly red and inflamed ; so much so, that if cold water 
is applied it will evaporate in steam on account of the 
heat produced by the inflammation. Six hours after 
this feverish appearance in the throat and face the 
throat becomes coated with a yellowish leathery lining, 
which may be removed by putting down the throat a 
compressed sponge, liberating it and withdrawing it, 
when it will take up the coating, leaving the surface 'of 
the throat a whitish red, thickly studded with minute 
raw spots from which this poison fungus growth seems 
to exude. 

If the throat be left without sponging out more 
than six hours the coating will adhere to the throat in 
the same manner as the canker does in roup. 

Diarrhoea attends the disease, the discharges resem- 
bling a mixture of oil, snuff and chrome green paint. 

Exhaustion is very great, so much so that we have 
given a cock of twelve pounds weight two ounces of 



POULTRY CULTURE. 159 

brandy with two ounces of milk in the morning and he 
showed no evidence of intoxication whatever. 

Treatment. — Steam 'the head and throat with hot 
water to which a Httle carbolic acid has been added, 
and sponge the throat as described in roup, also gargle 
the throat with kerosene oil, or still better, the follow- 
ing recipe: Sulpho carbolate soda, sixty grains; glyc- 
erine, cinnamon water, of each two tablespoonfuls. 
Give a small teaspoonful three times daily, and gargle 
the throat as above with a teaspoonful of the followmg 
mixture in a half glass of water: 

5 — Saturated solution of chlorate potash 4 tablespoonfuls. 

Tincture chloride iron i teaspoonful. 

Then touch the most prominent spots with a camel's 
hair pencil, dipped in the above. 

To keep up the strength during treatment add a 
beaten &^'g to a goblet of milk with a tablespoonful of 
brandy in which previously dissolve three grains of 
quinine, giving a third, morning, noon and night. 

When the eruption we have called chicken-pox ac- 
companied the disease, it seemed to act as a counter- 
irritant, and more fowls recovered when thus afflicted, 
than when troubled with the throat disease alone. 

In the light of our experience we should not try to 
save a single specimen, but should kill and bury them 
at once, and attend to the sanitary condition of the re- 
mainder of the flock, by giving Fowler's Solution at the 
rate of one drop to a fowl in the water and continue it 
for eight or ten days. 

Should this disease visit one in the form of an epi- 
demic, it would be no less, and we are fearful, much 
more fatal than chicken cholera. 



160 POULTRY CULTURE. 



BUMBLE-FOOT. 

This disease is in very many cases caused by care- 
lessness. Flying down from high roosts to a floor 
which is always more or less covered by small gravel 
stones results in bruises that are precisely like what 
we usually call "stone-galls." 

The flesh of the foot being so tough, the pus can- 
not escape, therefore, if not attended to, it must con- 
geal, and an ungainly, troublesome foot be the result. 

The fowl goes lame, and careless of its comfort, we 
in nine cases in ten fail to investigate in time to pre- 
vent serious trouble. When discovered before the 
pus congeals, lance the swelling at the rear of the 
foot, and the pressure upon it in walking will press 
the pus out and there will be a much smaller callous 
than if allowed to settle down of its own accord. 

We have treated cases by making an incision in 
front and rear of foot, and those on shank by opening 
at top and bottom, and by the use of a syringe and a 
solution of carbolic acid, of one part of acid to ten 
parts of water, cleanse them thoroughly, when they all 
heal up. 

In most cases we are not aware of the trouble till 
the pus is congealed, when it is almost impossible to 
press it out unless we take with it some portion of the 
layers of the foot, which would be worse for the fowl 
than to use a strong liniment to take out the soreness, 
and let the inflammation settle down into a corn. 

When the swellings are upon the shank or knee- 
joints, which are generally the result of rheumatism or 



POULTRY CULTURE. 161 

gout, the fowl may as well go to the block, for it is a 
doubtful policy to breed from such a specimen. 

But some have a mania for doctoring, in which case 
use strong liniment, and "bind the shanks and joints in 
leaves or bulbs of the skunk cabbage, and give inter- 
nally, one drop each morning, of Fowler's Solution, 
for a month, or bromide of potassium, three grains 
per day, until the trouble is cured. 

Bumble-foot may be prevented in a great degree by 
providing low roosts and keeping the floor of the fowl- 
house covered three inches deep with loamy sand, 
which costs less than to doctor fowls for the want of it. 

THE RED SPIDER LOUSE. 

This pest is the scourge of the poultry-house, and 
the source of more trouble and annoyance than any 
other hindrance to poultry keeping. The quarters 
often become literally alive with them before the 
breeder is aware of their presence. They sap the life 
blood from the fowls and reduce to skeletons and de- 
bilitate a flock to such an extent as to make the sea- 
son unprofitable. Working only in the night, they 
escape notice and have things their own way. 

Fowls that are sitting upon eggs are generally the 
greatest sufferers, for these lice instinctively seek out 
such hens as are about to hatch their broods, and many 
a hen sacrifices her life to her motherhood. 

In this case the hen becomes sallow in face and 
comb — actually bloodless, the lice having consumed 
the blood to such an extent as to cause death, and 
many fowls, whose death has been attributed to dis- 
ease, have been murdered by these pests. 



162 POULTRY CULTURE. 

The quarters should be constantly watched, and all 
the cracks and knots on or about the roosts saturated 
with coal tar and kerosene oil, or carbolic acid. The 
houses must be kept free from them, for the exhaustive 
influence of these marauders not only entails the loss 
of blood to the fowls, but, by reducing their strength, 
renders the flock more liable to the diseases we have 
described. 

It is therefore the best and surest step toward ward- 
ing off disease to have an absolutely clean poultry- 
house. If from one to three pounds of sulphur be 
mixed with the loamy sand and gravel covering the 
floor, in which the fowls may dust themselves, and 
kerosene oil used as described, the fowls occasionally 
dusted while on their roosts with a dredging box filled 
with sulphur and Persian insect powder, or carbolic 
powder, their quarters will be cleansed. Cleanliness 
coupled with judicious feeding is what makes fowls 
profitable. So great a nervous irritant are these species 
of vermin that in two flocks equally well fed the 
flock which occupies quarters infested with lice will not 
lay at all, while those free from this annoyance will lay 
nearly every day. This fact proves them to be an ex- 
pensive enemy to the poulterer. 

We do not go so far as some writers and say that 
all disease is caused by lice, but will say that many a 
fowl would not have suffered disease were it not for 
this barn or spider louse. Breeders, look for them at 
all times. Do not wait for them to make themselves 
known, and force their acquaintance upon you. 



POULTRY CULTURE. 163 



DIARRHOEA. 

This is most liable to attack chickens under two 
weeks old, and fowls during incubation, unless one is 
careful as to the diet given. 

In chickens, scalded milk as drink, keeping water 
from them, will usually correct the evil, but sometimes 
it seems to visit the yard to a degree almost equivalent 
to cholera. Discharges resemble oil and snuff mixed, 
with green streaks through it. The fowl shows great 
exhaustion, and moves about to all appearance as if no 
muscles were moved but those of the legs. 

Treatment. — For setting hens we have used one 
tablespoonful of the following mixture in a quart of 
water, giving them no other drink till cured. 

Sweet Tincture Rhubarb 2 oz. 

Paregoric 4 oz. 

Bicarbonate Soda \ oz. 

Essence Peppermint i dr. 

Water 2 oz. 

Mix. 

With young chicks, if the scalded milk failed to cor- 
rect the evil, put one teaspoonful of the above mixture 
in one half-pint of the milk. 

Care should be taken to discontinue the treatment 
when a cure is effected, as one extreme is as much to 
be avoided as the other. 

In the event of a stubborn case in adult birds put 
one teaspoonful of Squibbs' Diarrhoea Mixture in a pint 
of water and give as a drink, and generally a cure will 
follow in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 



164 POULTRY CULTURE, 

You will see by the formula that this is a'very power- 
ful medicine, and much care should be employed in 
its use : 

Laudanum. . . ., i oz. 

Tincture Capsicum i oz. 

Tincture Camphor I oz. 

Chloroform — pure 3 dr. 

Alcohol 5 dr. 

Mix. 

If fruit cans are used as drinking vessels they should 

be discarded when they commence to corrode, as the 

rust is an oxide of tin^ and in many cases brings on 

diarrhoea. Many a valuable bird has been lost in this 

way under the erroneous idea that they were getting 

iron and consequently strength, for where oxide of 

iron may do no harm oxide of tin is poisonous. 




PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 



THOROUGHBRED FOWLS. 



THEIR PROPER MATING. 

THE word " thoroughbred," Webster defines : Bred 
from the best blood ; completely bred ; accom- 
plished. 

With the above before us we are led to assert that 
we have pure blood, and absolutely thoroughbred fowls 
— other writers to the contrary notwithstanding. 

No one denies that we have thoroughbred cattle, 
which, by judicious coupling, have been bred to a uni- 
form type that is recognized at a glance. 

We have, for instance, the short-horn cattle, in color 
any shade found in red and white ; the Devon, which 
in its purity is confined to dark red ; the Jersey, in its 
varied shades found in fawn, white and black, and the 
Ayrshire, in any and all shades of color. Now have 
we not in the Light Brahma, Dark Brahma, Cochin, 
Hamburg, Houdan, Game, Spanish and Dorking, fowls 
as deserving the title thoroughbred as any of the cat- 
tle we have named ? 

165 



166 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Have they not been " Bred from the best blood " — 
completely bred — and does any one deny that the 
breeding has been accomplished ? 

In the cattle there is quite a diversity in color, but 
the fowls we have named will, even in color, produce 
their progeny in one uniform type, the family likeness 
more completely defined than is seen in the cattle, yet 
the same writers asserting we have no thoroughbred 
fowls maintain that we have thoroughbred cattle. 

It is our purpose in this treatise to chronicle some 
part of our experience, describing, as far as we can, a 
perfect sire and dam, and presenting our views of mating 
for breeding fowls, claiming them to be thorough- 
bred. 

Practical knowledge becomes, in one sense, science, 
and should be disseminated, and no theory that does 
not stand the test of experiment be valued or promul- 
gated. 

The Rev. W. H. H. Murray truly says, "We strike 
the bottom facts that underlie all breeding when we 
read this sentence : ' Every seed should bring forth after 
its kind^ 

^^Find the highest type to perforin the paternal act, and 
we can repeat the typical creation. Find two parents that 
represent the original idea in any organism, and we can 
repeat the original idea'' 

These and kindred expressions fire the thoughtful 
breeder to his very center, and he searches to find out 
what constitutes a perfect sire, and what are the requi- 
sites of a perfect dam, that from the pair he may pro- 
duce his ideal of perfection, combining health, beauty 
and utility in the offspring. 



MATING. 167 

The sire should have a sound constitution, perfect 
color and symmetry (that form of structure produced by 
the harmonious blending of perfectly formed parts, as 
described by the Standard). He should be mild and 
courteous to his dames, showing no lack of procreative 
vigor; courageous, even pugnacious, in the defense of 
his harem. 

It is not only necessary that he possess all these indi- 
vidual qualities, but he should have a record, or pedigree, 
that shows all his breeding qualities to be the result of 
ancestral blood and perfect breeding. Thus we have 
a really perfect sire. Such males, coming from a line 
of like sires, invariably stamp their progeny in the like- 
ness of their own personality. Experience teaches that 
the sire, in his line, has greater influence in determining 
the color and form of structure than the dams. 

The fact that chickens generally favor the grandsire 
makes it all-important that the male line should not be 
broken, and that the sire should be typical in symmetry 
and color. 

Before speaking of the color qualification, and its in- 
fluence in mating, we will submit the following, proved 
by several experiments, that our deductions may be 
better understood. 

It is asserted by pigeon fanciers that if a pigeon, 
white in plumage, beak and toe-nails (it matters not 
from what colored ancestors it may have been bred), 
will, if it breed at all, breed true to white. An Albino- 
Spanish fowl, if pure white in plumage, beak, and legs, 
will ever after breed true to white. 

We produced in 1862 a pair of white sports from 
Golden-Spangled Hamburgs. The male had bluish- 



168 POULTRY CULTURE. 

white toes ; the progeny came one-third Golden-Spangled 
in color, while a cockerel from the pair, in all respects 
white, bred to his dam and to his sisters, produced all 
white chicks. 

Generally all sports, so called, are white in color, or 
we think a better expression is, that they are void of 
color. 

By causes which cannot be explained the function 
of color fails to furnish its quota to the chicken's organ- 
ism, therefore the chickens must be considered a new 
type, and lost to the breed, for they cannot be expected 
to transmit a color which they never inherited. 

We admire a pure white back and undercolor in a 
Light Brahma pullet, with a clearly defined stripe in 
the hackle. But if successive matings of sire and dam, 
both being white in undercolor, are indulged in, the 
result will be faded and eventually white birds. A 
plumage like that of the Light Brahma, made up of 
white and black, cannot be exempt from the shading of 
the one color into the other with which it is associated ; 
and in this breed the Standard wisely acknowledges 
both white and bluish undercolor, and gives no prefer- 
ence to either shade in adjudicating for premiums. 

This position is a just one, and judges should not 
deviate from it, for without this dark undercolor in the 
sire we cannot sustain the breed. It matters not what 
our likes and dislikes are or may be, nor how we may 
breed for our own amusement, yet in all public expres- 
sions we should be careful to speak of each breed in its 
true light, and all truthfully-recorded experiments be- 
come of much value in counteracting whatever false 
ideas may appear in print from time to time. 



MATING. 169 

Experience teaches us that the whole tendency of 
breeding is to breed Hghter in color. We have only to 
call to mind the Light Brahmas of the past to see how 
all of the strains have grown lighter in color. We 
all know that the original birds were dark in under- 
color, and that light specimens then were the exception. 
We know also that a flock colonized and left to them- 
selves grow lighter in color and finally become nearly 
or quite white. 

In view of these facts we say all males of faded 
light color in plumage should be killed for poultry. 
In no case should they be used as breeders, for they 
are never good producers of males, and although they 
may for a season beget good females, these in their turn 
will revert in their breeding to their faulty sires. Why 
try to utilize these males and expect them to perform 
a work that is impossible? They cannot be expected 
to produce color when they utterly fail in that quality. 
Yet in the face of all this experience we see breeders 
using, year after year, white-necked Light Brahma, 
faded, light-colored Plymouth Rock, Light Buff Cochin, 
or splashed-breasted, bronze-thighed Partridge-Cochin 
sires, expecting by the aid of counteracting influences 
in the dams to reach perfection in color. 

Should all the breeders of Plymouth Rocks step out 
boldly, using none but perfect-colored sires, they would 
perfect the color of their breed, which they will never do 
by mating extremes, as is now the universal rule. Why 
do these breeders forget these facts : " That every seed 
should bring forth after its kind''; that the sire in his 
line has the greatest influence in determining the color of 
the offspring, and that there is a loss in color by breeding? 



170 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Waste is written on everything. We are compelled 
to establish a sinking fund in all operations in life, life 
itself working on that plan. 

In all penciled or barred plumage we find the 
ground color to be the lighter in shade ; and as breed- 
ing strength fails (as it may by severe in-and-in breed- 
ing, producing debility or a weakened constitution) we 
find the progeny reverting to this lighter or ground 
color, those of white losing their brilliancy of color, 
black becoming mixed with white ; Light Brahmas 
growing pale, and even white in the neck, tail and 
wings, and finally yellowish white; Buff Cochins to 
pale buff, white in flights and tail ; Partridge-Cochins 
to clay-colored breasts, not penciled, and males buff- 
mottled in breast ; the Golden-Spangled cock to red- 
dish brown breasts, with white appearing along the, 
lower line of the body ; therefore good color not only 
requires the best mating of blood, but is also depend- 
ent upon the health of the parent birds while breeding. 

Nine-tenths of all the blunders in mating for breed- 
ing occur in 

COLOR, 

and a corresponding number of all the breeders, in 
mating their stock, fail to consider that color is the 
especial work of the sire. 

To be sure, good care and generous food help most 
materially, for feathers, like grass, grow most luxuri- 
antly under favorable circumstances. Poor food, poor 
plumage. It starves alike with the body. This can 
well be remembered by those who expect they have 
done their whole duty when they buy nice stock and 
expect it to produce premium chickens. 






MATING, 171 

The color of the hackle of a sire is to be considered, 
especially as it is to influence and control the hackles 
of his sons, for the hackle is purely male plumage, and 
the beauty of his sex ; while the color of his neck, 
before putting on his garb, will determine his breeding- 
strength in the color of his pullets. A male that grows 
up black in neck, to be replaced or covered by a white 
hackle, having a yellow beak void of a black stripe, 
will, as a rule, beget pullets dark and many quite black 
and smutty in the neck, and male chicks white in the 
hackle, like himself ; while a male with dark beak, very 
dark neck and back, as he becomes a cockerel, having a 
royal rich black striped hackle, will generally beget 
both sexes too dark, if anything like Standard females 
are mated to him. But such males are very valuable 
in restoring the progeny of hens that are light in color 
of neck, wings and tails ; thus utilizing hens that must 
otherwise go to the block. 

The reader may ask why recommend the mating of 
very dark sires to light females, and condemn matings 
made "vice versa." 

In answer we will say : 

1. The tendency is always to breed lighter in color, 
and the sire fails in this respect. 

2. The sire, in his line, has the greatest control of 
the color of the offspring. 

3. Chickens favor more strongly the grandsire. 

4. A white-necked sire will beget smutty-necked 
females, which in turn revert to their pale sire, and if 
a like sire be mated to the rule of all white under-color, 
the same having been the breeding of the females, 
they will produce progeny all pale and faulty in color. 



172 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Experience teaches that cockerels with dark fine 
hackles, bluish undercolor, and black wing-flights and 
tail, are the progeny of perfect or dark-plumaged sires. 
So universally true is this that it may be accepted as a 
rule. 

Our strongest argument in favor of the dark sire 
and rejection of the pale one is that experience says it 
is best, and that is our law. 

The male of all breeds whose plumage is made up 
of black and white, or is parti-colored, owing to their 
profusion of hackle and tail, compared with the females 
of their breed, appear much lighter in color ; conse- 
quently they are darker in breeding functions than 
they appear ; and the first point an experienced breeder 
considers, in Penciled and Spangled Hamburgs and 
Plymouth Rocks, is the breast, bars of the wings, and 
color of beak, before considering the general surface 
color, knowing that if dark or light in these points that 
such will be the breeding and influence on the prog- 
eny. 

Many find fault with the Standard, saying that to 
mate specimens by it is to make a failure in breeding. 

The fault is not so much in the Standard as in our 
failure to consider the difference in the plumage of the 
sexes when we apply the Standard. 

Size in the sire is of little importance if he be fully 
up to the medium weight of his race. An overgrown 
sire is useless as a breeder. The one just above the 
average, vigorous and healthy, will beget one hu-ndred 
chicks weighing more pounds than will the overgrown 
male of the same brood. 

Size and weight should be considered in the light of 




WHITE LEGHORNS. 



173 



i 



MATING. 175 

the general average. The best sire is the one that 
shows the least difference in the weight of the indi- 
viduals of his progeny. 

In the small breeds we may with safety choose our 
sires above the average weight, for it is a singular fact 
that in the largest specimens of the Asiatics and the 
smallest specimens of the smaller breeds will be found 
the most faulty birds. 

This question of mean weight has been one of con- 
tention among breeders, for a large appearing specimen 
in the show coop for a long time in America, while 
open judging was the rule, generally won the prizes. 
Those who believed in all the breeds that practical 
worth should be closely watched, that by breeding they 
should not suffer and be disgraced, soon saw that ex- 
cessive weight was not found in the most prolific speci- 
mens, also that many a bird had the credit of being 
large without the weight, as tested by the scales ; that 
a long loose plumage as a rule did not cover the birds 
of the most merit as egg-producers, and soon in the 
American Standard size became size and weight, and 
finally, in the last edition, weight only. The best meat 
is that which is firm in fiber. The blocky, solid, 
close-feathered, smooth-surface plumaged birds as a 
rule are the best practically, and we in the past fifteen 
years have seen a vast improvement in all the larger or 
Asiatic breeds. The question is no longer. Is he the 
largest one in the exhibition ? but. Is he the best one ? 
Is the strain a practical one ? Do they lay at an early 
age? and. Are they prolific layers? And from such the 
breeders are looking for sires. The fact that a male is 
half the breeding pen makes it all-important that he not 



176 POULTRY CULTURE. 

only be typical in all the foregoing, but that his worth 
often is increased threefold from being the son of an 
especially prolific dam, and pedigree in fowls is no longer 
looked upon in derision, but many times demanded by 
the would-be purchaser. If the breeder cannot give 
authentic pedigrees he has to be able to state of what 
the strain, and show that the stock has not been subject 
to mongrel crosses in his hands, to hold the trade. 
Whatever is of advantage in breeding, whatever of im- 
portance pedigree is in horse and cattle, so in a corre- 
sponding degree is it of worth in fowls ; and one does 
well in his selection of sires to see that their pedigree 
is in keeping with their physical development and 
color. 

THE DAM. 

Constitution, prolific-laying, size and color, are im- 
portant, and are to be preferred in the order named. 
In addition to this a good record of blood and egg- 
productive merit in her ancestry are to be considered 
in selecting dams for any breed. 

A sound constitution and perfect health while breed- 
ing has much to do with producing prolific-laying 
stock; also with the luster and brilliancy of self- 
colors. 

The dam produces the material for the chicken- 
structure ; the sire the life of that structure. 

The egg is to the chicken what the endosperm is to 
plant life — a store-house containing the requisites to 
produce a perfect chicken structure. The life-germ 
that is to absorb all this, being thereby built up into 
independent life, is imparted by the sire. 



MATING. 177 

Unlike the animal kingdom, the hen performs her 
work as independently and completely without the 
male, as by copulation with him. 

The egg-passage, running from the egg-sac to the 
vent, is a receptacle, a work-house, in which the secre- 
tions of both dam and sire are made up into packages 
called eggs. In this work-room impregnation takes 
place. The 'ovaria, when grown to a certain size, burst 
their sacks and are expelled into this oviduct, there to 
receive the spermatozoa of the male, and in their pas- 
sage through become incased in the albumen, the lin- 
ing and shell in turn, and expelled at the vent, perfect 
eggs. 

There are in this passage, while a hen is in a healthy 
laying condition, from four to six eggs in their differ- 
ent stages of development ; the last two nearest the 
vent being beyond the influence of the male, if the 
hen has not been previously exposed. 

All the secretions deposited in the egg-passage must 
find an escape at the vent, for nothing goes back from 
it into the dam's organism by absorption, as is asserted 
by some writers. 

We have seen cases where, by means of a cartilagi- 
nous circle about the vent, fowls have been prevented 
from laying their eggs, and in such cases the eggs in 
the egg-passage will form one over the other till death 
is caused by inward pressure ; and we have before now 
taken from the carcass a mass as large as a six-pound 
cannon-shot, cooked solid by fever heat. We have 
taken from the egg-passage of a turkey five eggs, com- 
pletely formed and shelled, completely cooked by in- 
flammation. 



178 POULTRY CULTURE. 

. The following experiments seem to prove that the 
spermatozoa will live, doing its work of impregnation, 
in this egg-passage, only about ten days, and we may 
say that the dam is pregnant for that length of time. 

We placed a hen that had hatched and reared a 
brood of chicks, without exposure, with a cock for 
three hours, then isolated her in a coop by herself. 
The first two eggs she laid in the next forty-eight 
hours were not fertile ; eight of the nine laid in the 
ten days thereafter were fertile. Those laid after 
that time were not fertile. 

We placed a hen by herself that had been exposed 
while rearing her brood, and seven out of the eight 
eggs laid during the ten days afterward were fertile, 
but all eggs laid after that time were not. 

We took a hen that had just finished her litter, 
wanting to incubate, and exposed her to the male for 
three days, then cooped her by herself. None of her 
eggs were fertile. In this case we take it for granted 
the incubating fever had not abated so as to admit of 
an effective copulation. 

These experiments, which we can vouch, for, seem 
to indicate that if females are cooped ten days before 
saving the eggs it will protect the breeder in the 
purity of the blood of the chickens ; but as some 
believe that the whole litter of eggs is affected it is 
the better plan, in changing hens from one male to 
another, to do it at the close of a litter of eggs ; but 
we are satisfied that after the fifth egg, after the 
change is made, the chicks would in nineteen cases 
in twenty be the progeny of the associate sire. 

We believe the longer the spermatozoa remains in 



MATING. 179 

the egg-passage without being appropriated the more 
sluggish it becomes, and that the fresh semen, being 
more active in its animalcule life, secures the impregna- 
tion of the eggs. This is speculation, but, neverthe- 
less, in accordance with our experience. 

If examined by the microscope there will be found 
no organic difference in the germ found in the yelk of 
the egg and that of the freshly ejected spermatozoa, 
both resembling a polywog, and there is no chance, as 
the author of "Secrets in Fowl-Breeding" asserts, for 
the dam to be contaminated by a chance copulation 
with a male not of her breed. 

There can be no grounds for belief that a dam cop- 
ulating with a sire of a different breed has lost her 
purity of blood, and that we can never afterward 
breed thoroughbred stock from her. We do not 
wonder, if he believes this, that he asserts, in the com- 
mencement of his work, that we have no absolutely 
thoroughbred fowls. 

There can be no contamination of the blood or 
breeding of the dam from this cause, unless it can be 
proved that there is a union of arterial circulation 
between the fetus or chick and the dam. This is be- 
yond proof, for there is no circulation in the egg till 
incubation takes place, and this is carried on inde- 
pendent of the dam, and may be a thousand miles 
away. Again, we have cases on record where an egg 
laid thirty-three hours after copulation hatched. It is 
clearly shown that the two eggs nearest to the vent are 
generally past impregnation, but in this case the 
second one was reached, and OAving to the time it 
takes to develop an egg the vital germ must have been 



180 POULTRY CULTURE. 

taken into the egg at once, which precludes altogether 
the idea that the dam becomes injured in her blood by 
absorption through the act of copulation out of her 
breed. 

We are surprised to see men foreshadowing this 
belief in their advertisements, for surely breeders of 
experience cannot believe it, and must look upon it as 
advancing a false theory, which does the amateur no 
good. 
, Size in the dam is all-important if great weight in 
the progeny is* the desideratum ; for, as we have shown, 
the dam furnishes the structure, and must thereby 
control the size to a much greater extent than the sire. 

Secure dams of good average size. If they are to 
be used to vitalize some other strain it is necessary 
that they be coarse in structure and large in bone, 
for these qualities become toned down by in-breeding. 
They should also be dark in plumage to counteract 
the loss of color in breeding. In support of the 
above we will say that -we mated two large hens to a 
cockerel weighing less than nine pounds, and which, 
as a cock, did not reach twelve pounds till three years 
old, and then only when exceedingly fat. Not one of 
his progeny, at eight months old, weighed less than 
nine pounds, and many of them twelve and one-half 
, pounds. Again, we mated a cock of ten and one-half 
pounds to ten-pound hens, and the result was, at ten 
months old the entire male progeny was larger than 
the sire, many of the cockerels weighing twelve and 
one-half pounds before twelve months old. Yet for 
all this we would caution breeders not to go to ex- 
tremes in this direction. 



MATING. 181 

The larger the bone and structure the longer it will 
take to mature the specimen. 

The smaller the bone and offal, in comparison to 
weight, the quicker will they mature. As a rule such 
chickens are the most profitable as poultry, giving 
better returns for food consumed. They lay earlier 
in life, and such are always the most prolific layers 
through life. 

These early-maturing, compact, close-feathered 
birds generally win the early exhibitions, while those 
of larger bone and more fluffy plumage, requiring more 
time to mature them, have been more successful in the 
show pen in the winter months. 

Both these types the breeder of Asiatics is com- 
pelled to breed, for both have their admirers, the 
poulterer and those of a practical turn of mind pre- 
ferring the former, and many of the fanciers the latter. 

Our own idea, and we believe the true position, is 
to take the happy medium, and advance in size no 
faster than we can secure with it the full merit of egg 
production and symmetry. 

Breeders have been too apt to believe in the adage 
that like produces like, and carry their belief to the 
individual, and for reason of this belief have many 
times discarded the very best birds of the flock so far 
as color goes, but we will take this rhatter up under the 
proper heads. Most prominent and most to be consid- 
ered in both sire and dam are 

BREAST AND BODY. 

These are of more importance, especially in the 
form of structure, for practical use and in the exhibi- 
tion pen than many at first conceive. 



182 POULTRY CULTURE. 

A specimen perfect in these respects has an in- 
creased chance to win over one failing in these points, 
for a failure of two points in form of breast and body 
will affect the symmetry of the specimen two points 
more, making in the aggregate four points ; while to 
fail even four points in the hackle (and such a speci- 
men is seldom exhibited, since it has no associate in- 
fluence) is no worse for the specimen than two points 
as described above — a hint breeders may well heed in 
selecting their breeding stock or specimens for exhibi- 
tion. 

How few specimens we see that fill literally the re- 
quirements of the Standard, " breast full, broad, round, 
carried well forward, body broad and deep, which, to 
secure this shape in breast must be rounded at the side, 
giving the round side-sweep which is admired wherever 
seen." 

All who saw Light Brahma cock Leo 2'j']6, exhib- 
ited at Lowell by Damon & Marshall, or the Dark 
Brahma cockerel exhibited at Boston by Mr. Water- 
house in the winter of 1876-77 will appreciate this 
merit. 

This formation gives better form and carriage of 
wings, finer symmetry and more grace of carriage, yet 
we see many birds used by breeders failing in all this 
and their place usurped by others whose only excellence 
is a good neck-hackle. A word to the wise is sufficient. 

MATING OF THE SEXES. 

In relation to color in the breeds we consider first 
the Light Brahmas, for it is with this breed we have 



MATING. 183 

worked out most of our experience, and it comes easier 
for us to employ it in illustration ; but in all other 
breeds, so far as they have been as well established in 
blood, and bred upon the same plan or rule, we find the 
same results. 

We can give no rule to be applied to all breeds unless 
all breeders have established the rule of breeding one 
line of sires, preserving it unbroken, and breeding all 
new blood introduced back to sires of the strain, basing 
all on the law of in-breeding. We expect some may 
mate by our advice as they understand it, and fail ; but 
It will not be the fault of the rule, but the fault of the 
previous breeding of the stock. 

Before going further we will explain what we term 
the " cape." It is the feathers that grow from the 
shoulder joints along the arm of the wing and cover 
the back entirely at the neck, spreading laterally toward 
the tail, helping to form the flatness of the back between 
the shoulders, and is covered by the hackle of the bird 
when standing erect. In Light Brahmas it is either black, 
black and white, or white, and either must be tolerated 
in the breed. The wings and neck are made up of black 
and white, and the cape is the connecting link of these 
two sections ; and where a pure white cape is found, 
generally the specimen fails in color of wing or is short 
in the stripe of hackle-feathers ; yet for all this, some 
judges will cut a color other than white in this locality. 
As a defect the present rendering of the Standard makes 
the color for males to read : black and white, wholly 
white becoming defective ; and that of the females to 
read: white or white and black. Should the cape become 
wholly black in a female, she would have to be cut for 



184 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the defect. With these remarks we would mate as 
follows : 

LIGHT BRAHMAS. 

Mating No. i. — Cockerel in form and color as 
described by the Standard, weighing from ten and one- 
half to eleven and one-quarter pounds, with the stripe 
in hackle-feathers, black commencing well up and run- 
ning in a narrow, clear black stripe to the point, dark 
beak, cape black and white, undercolor bluish-white, 
with deep bay eyes. 

Hens weighing from nine to ten pounds; in form 
and color as described by the Standard, and white and 
black cape, with white undercolor and bay eyes. 

This I think none will deny is mating by the Stand- 
ard, and we call it the " ne plus ultra " for all Light 
Brahmas for the male line of one's strain. 

Mating No. 2. — Cocks with wide black stripe in 
hackle and black ticks discernible in saddle near the tail, 
cape black and white, undercolor nearly white, medium 
dark beak, and bay eyes ; in other respects as described 
by Standard, weighing from eleven and one-half to 
twelve and one-half pounds. 

Pullets in form and color as described by the Stand- 
ard, being dark in the cape and bluish-white at shoulder, 
shading to white toward the tail, white undercolor, 
selecting them well up in size. Such a mating will pro- 
duce females that should please all. This and the 
Mating No. i we term perfect in all respects, as neither 
of the specimens are disqualified, but there is a mating 
we prize better than all, from the fact that the results 
from it are always good and the pullets used always 
sell for the most as hens, for the reason that in seven 




LIGHT BRAHMAS. 



1S5 



MATING. 187 

out of ten they molt out all the disqualification which 
has forced them the first year to remain on our hands, 
and in Mating No. j we describe two sets of females 
that we would use, the first being the disqualified one. 

Mating No. j. — Mate males M'ith hackles that have 
a good fair black stripe, but edge of feathers free from 
any smoky tinge, nearly white undercolor and cape, 
wing-flights about one-half black, coverlets of tail 
black, laced with white, lesser coverlets white. Fe- 
males of Standard form, intense black stripe in hackle, 
very dark cape, undercolor of back so dark as to show 
black spots in the web, but not on the surface, tail 
black, flights black, Standard in other respects. We 
have been criticised for this mating, but we do know 
that such females produce the largest number of 
chicks to score ninety or more points, when mated as 
above. 

Mating No. /j.. — Male as described in No. 3. To 
females that have neck nearly black or what is called 
smutty, the white edge of feather smoky edged or en- 
tirely wanting, with black cape and dark undercolor. 
Of course, in all thes-s matings for color, the form of 
structure is taken for granted to be as near the Stand- 
ard as we can find it ; the males to be of Standard 
weight and the females well up to or beyond the weight 
laid down for perfection. 

Mating No. 5. — Males very dark in hackle, even 
smoky edged, beak very dark in stripe, cape and under- 
color very dark, even showing in web of feather, wings* 
as dark as possible, tail black, and eyes a deep bay. 
(The bay eye is the strongest sighted and the strongest 
breeder.) 



188 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Females with extremely light necks, wings, cape, 
undercolor and tail, and light or pearl eyes — in fact in 
and of themselves worthless, only as they possess good 
blood, being unfortunate in individual appearance — 
what the writer terms scrubs. 

This last we term utility mating, and rarely none 
but the first three matings should be found in tlie 
breeding pens of any first-class breeder. But there are 
poor people whose purses are not long enough to pay 
for the best birds, and they are compelled to buy from 
the last two matings and wait a year or two to produce 
the fine ones they covet, — this theory will surely do. 
If the blood be pure they will have some as fine birds 
as from the last, but not as large a percentage of their 
chicks will be found in the list above ninety points. 

This mating utilizes many birds that would other- 
wise go to the block. Such mating of these extremes 
in color many times produces fine chickens. A breeder 
carried away by in-and-in breeding oversteps the 
bounds of reason, and this great want of color is the 
result. His birds being well bred, the restoration of 
color is easily accomplished. You may say we should 
not give countenance to such mating. Would you 
send to the butcher a white Princess Shorthorn heifer, 
or would you breed her to a red bull and make her val- 
uable in color of her calves? Her pedigree, which 
shows her blood to be very fine, is the guarantee that 
if judiciously mated she will produce good results, and 
for this last mating we will say that with the exception 
of five to seven per cent of the chicks they will most 
likely be of as good an average of the Mating No. 4. 

All the male progeny of this Mating No. 5 that 



MATING. 189 

does not come well up to the Standard should be killed 
for poultry. It is a questionable policy to use the 
males as stock-birds (and especially if they are to fill 
the place as one of your line of sires) that come from 
this extreme mating. All faded, white-hackled males 
should be killed. 

Let these rules of mating Light Brahmas, also the 
rule of breeding in line of sires, be rigidly observed, 
taking into the breeding-stock no more than one-fourth 
of blood other than the strain, and it will matter not 
whether it be Felch, Autocrat or English, the result 
cannot fail to be good with the necessary difference in 
the relationships of the different matings described. 

DARK BRAHMAS. 

To make a rule and have it apply to all breeds it is 
necessary that the circumstances be the same in each 
case, and when we offer a rule for mating Dark Brahmas 
upon principles derived from experiments wrought out 
with the light variety, we expect the same results, 
if the same rule of breeding, viz., adhering to a line of 
male ancestry, has been observed. We say male line, 
for it is that line which has the greatest influence, as we 
have shown. 

There is no breed that has proved so disastrous in 
the hands of amateurs as the Dark Brahma, and with 
which we have to be so cautious when we introduce- 
new blood. The peculiar color and penciling of the 
plumage is such that a radical change of blood always 
deranges it, and, therefore, the necessity of a slow 
process of feeding the blood. While a three-fourths 
bred Light Brahma would be nearly perfect, the dark 



190 POULTRY CULTURE. 

variety would not carry more than an eighth of blood 
out of the family, and retain the family characteristics 
of penciling and shade. 

This makes it a necessity to first establish family 
strains of blood, and then adhere closely to an unbroken 
line of sires, breeding back to that line of sires when- 
ever new blood is introduced. There is no breed that 
demonstrates this necessity more clearly. For a striking 
example of it, we have only to call to mind the king of 
1877, the cockerel "Agamemnon," bred by Chas. A. 
Sweet, of Buffalo, N. Y., that won first and special at 
the International Exhibition held at Buffalo, N. Y., in 
February, 1877. This bird came from an unbroken line 
of sires for four generations from an imported bird, and 
from a female line bred back strongly to the same line 
of sires. 

When the breeders of this variety will recognize this 
necessity, and each of the different importations be 
preserved as near as possible in the family purity of 
blood, then will they be more valuable to the trade, as 
we have shown in speaking of the strains of Light 
Brahmas. Then, also, can we apply the following rules 
with almost as certain results as can be obtained with 
other breeds. 

Were we to make a specialty of the breed, we would 
select the best cockerel we could find, and a large-boned 
pullet with coarsely-penciled plumage, each from differ- 
ent families of blood, and breed them and their progeny 
for four years, as follows: 




DARK BRAHMAS. 



191 



MATING. 193 









G8 








Cock I 




c 


ex. 

G.5 




G9 


^M^' 


V 


^-^ 


G2^ 


::^ 


^■"^ 


GJIO^ 


^^^X) 


\ 

Group 1 

/ 


> J^ 


■Ip 


\ 


c\ 






^ 
c^ 




G6(LX. 


Daml 




HI 


G7 


■"-^-.^ 


G12 


^^-Vgi5 














G16 



Mating the first year to produce group i ; the 
second year a pullet from group i to cockerel No. i ; a 
cockerel the exact type of his sire to hen No. i ; a 
cockerel like the sire to the pullet approaching the 
nearest to perfection, breeding them in-and-in, pro- 
ducing in their turn groups 2, 3 and 4, and the third 
year mating as indicated by the lines, producing groups 
Nos. 5, 6 and 7 ; in all the young stock using no males 
that were not the type of the sire, nor pullets other 
than the desired type in penciling of feathers and form 
of structure. In this way producing three families 
alike in type and different in blood, yet made of the 
same cross. This trouble will put any breeder on a 
firm footing, and ever afterward if he uses none but 
females in the introduction of new blood, and receives 
group 7 in the light of new blood, disposing of the 
cockerels, putting in the new hen 8, breeding as indicated 
by the lines, disposing of all cockerels as scrubs or 
poultry that have not more than fifty per cent of the 



194 POULTRY CULTURE. 

blood of the strain, he will need have no fear that his 
birds will not breed well and his customers be pleased. 

We can recommend the following matings with a 
feeling of certainty as to 'grand results: 

Mating No. i. — Hens that are standard, which were 
nearly perfect, steel-gray pullets in their first year 
mated to a cockerel, metallic-black in breast and thighs, 
medium dark beak, hackle and saddle, broad in the 
black stripe and decided in shade. This mating should 
be made in producing the male line. 

Mating No. 2. — Hens that were fine as pullets but 
have become bronze-hued as fowls mated to a cockerel 
with a black breast, evenly dotted with minute white 
spots, black thighs, hackle and saddle well striped, and 
medium dark beak. 

Mati^ig No. J. — To pullets that are as near the 
Standard as possible, having closely-penciled throats, 
mate a cock black in breast and thighs, which as a 
cockerel had a breast spotted, as described in No. 2. 
This will produce the best females. 

Mating No. ^. — To pullets good in other respects 
but light in color of breast, mate cocks black in breast 
and thighs, with broad black stripe in hackle and sad- 
dle, with very dark beak, said cock having been black- 
breasted when a chick. 

Mating No 5. — To hens good in color which as pul- 
lets were not penciled in breast, mate cockerels dark in 
all respects, even in beak, stripe of hackle, breast and 
thighs ; the white even so charged as to be smoky- 
laced. This is in keeping with mating No. 5 of Light 
Brahmas. 

Nos. I and 3 are the 7ie plus ultra of all the breeds. 



MATING. 195 

In all these matings we should prefer long-bodied 
hens, but not so long as to narrow at the saddle. The 
cock should have sufficient length of back to preserve 
the true Brahma type. The race is too fast approach- 
ing the Cochin shape, an evil I hope the breeders will 
strive to remedy, for in doing so they will have less 
trouble in keeping up the breed to Standard weight. 
This point should be kept in mind when introducing 
new blood, and large, coarse specimens should be 
chosen, for they tone down wonderfully by in-breeding. 

If a strain is disposed to breed extremely light in 
color, then no cockerels with spotted breasts should be 
used even in Mating No. 2 ; but should they be predis- 
posed to the dark extreme, cocks with spotted breasts 
should be used in Mating No. i, and cocks slightly 
mottled in their breasts in Mating No. 3. 

All really light-colored, stripeless-hackled and sad- 
dled cockerels should be killed, for their use will, as a 
rule, produce bad results. All pale, non-penciled- 
breasted pullets should be used as incubators the first 
year, and all that do not ripen into good color and 
have penciled breasts, as hens, should be used as 
poultry. The others should be mated as in Mating 
No. 5. 

We cannot leave the breed without a word to such 
breeders as Mr. Sweet and Mr. Mansfield, who we learn 
have devoted much thought to their breeding, and who 
are, in a measure, breeding upon the plan herein laid 
down, expressing a hope that they will preserve their 
strains as pure in family blood as possible, and that 
in connection with the breeding of their stock they will 
use a public record for the preservation of the history 



196 POULTRY CULTURE. 

of their respective strains, either the "World's Pedigree 
Book" or the "American Poultry Association's Reg- 
ister." 

Buyers of this breed are seeing this necessity, and 
we believe it will pay for the trouble. The history of 
this breed has been much like that of the first ten years 
of the Light Brahmas. The fact that the majority of 
the breeders believe frequent crosses necessary, and 
the complication of color, has been the means of caus- 
ing many to abandon the breed. We believe the breed 
can be made a popular one if the rules herein laid 
down are followed. 

PARTRIDGE-COCHINS. 

Mati7tg No. I. — Cockerel weighing ten to eleven 
pounds, hackle and saddle rich bay, the black in the 
same being metallic greenish-black and broad in the 
stripe, metallic-black breast and thighs, fluff showing 
a bronze tinge, indicative of rich brown blood. 

Hens as described in the Standard. This mating 
is the best that can be made for the male progeny. 

Mating No. 2. — Cock weighing eleven to twelve 
pounds, and of the same color as described for cockerel 
in Mating No. i. 

Pullets large in size, and in color reddish-brown 
ground, penciled with a deep brown, with Standard 
neck and tail. This mating will produce finer females 
than males. 

Mating No. j. — Males showing bronze-black tips to 
breast feathers, even slight mottlings of bay color, 
with thighs slightly bronzed, and a narrow black stripe 
in the hackle and saddle. 




197 



MATING. 199 

Females in plumage brown, penciled with black. 
Such faulty hens, by this mating, help to produce 
many good males. 

Mating No. ^. — Males very dark in beak, hackle, 
saddle, breast and thighs, wings and tail. Females 
favoring the light extreme, being lightly penciled in 
breast, with hackle in which the penciling of brown 
mottles the black stripe. This mating, like the dark 
sire Mating No. 5, in the Light Brahmas, often pro- 
duces fine chicks. 

All pale-hackled, splashed-breasted, and bronzed- 
thighed males should be killed, and in subsequent 
matings so mate that one of the sex shall come from 
either mating No. i or No. 2. Females with clay or 
non-penciled breasts, or those with leaden-gray and 
black mixed in the plumage, should never be used as 
breeders. 

It is a sad sight to see so many specirriens fail in 
color. Many are better described as brown penciled 
with black, and buff penciled with brown. The Stand- 
ard color, " rich brown penciled with a darker brown," 
should be better appreciated ; so popular has the red- 
dish buff penciled with dark brown become that the 
judge who literally follows the Standard finds many to 
condemn his judgment. 

This breed is as difificult to handle as the Dark 
Brahmas, and equal care in introducing new blood 
should be exercised. 

The breed requires close breeding to maintain the fine 
outlines of penciling, and we think if all the statistics 
could be procured it would be proved that more prize- 
winners have come from the breeding-in line, as we 



200 POULTRY CULTURE, 

know to be the case in other breeds. The above have 
been the matings of Partridge-Cochins for the past ten 
years, and perhaps cannot be altered for the better ; 
yet were we to make up one pen for a gentleman 
for his own especial use we should do it as follows: 

THE SINGLE PEN MATING. 

A cockerel with a head short, with plumage dark 
red, low comb, bay eyes, short, well arched beak, with 
dark brown stripe down the upper mandible, wattles 
well developed, but not wrinkled ; ear-lobe large, neck 
well arched, not long in appearance, having a full .flow- 
ing hackle, that was the color of a dark Mandarin 
orange, with a clear black stripe down the center, ter- 
minating in a nice fine tapering point that reached the 
point of the feather ; no white under color of the hackle ; 
with a back deep red, matching the wing-bows of same 
color, and representing with them a deep red saddle- 
bag thrown across his back — the saddle that had a 
crowning sweep from back to tail of orange-red striped 
to match the rieck plumage ; breast that was round as 
an apple, and carried forward with prominence; color 
of the same, being black with bronze reflections ; wings, 
other than the rose, being black in the butts, with 
bronze-black bars, such as would be about a point 
defective by the Standard ; tail black, with greenish 
reflections, fluffs black, smoked over with a reddish 
bronze, that did not show at a distance ; legs set well 
apart, apparently strong with outer and middle toes 
and shank well feathered with black and brown feath- 
ers ; no white in tail or wing flight, the latter having a 
broad maroon stripe on the outer web ; no white under 



MATING. 203 

color of saddle. Such a male, to score about ninety- 
two points by the Standard, would be a most royal 
breeder mated to hens and pullets described by 
the Standard, with, say, three in twelve being dark 
specimens, just dark enough to lose in color of back 
and wings, three points for bay to dark, the dark pen- 
ciling being the predominating color. They would look 
a trifle dark, but not mar the even look of the flock at 
a distance. Such a mating, to our minds, would be 
the most valuable one a breeder could make, and 
should demand the highest price. 

BUFF COCHINS. 

There is no more beautiful picture on the lawn than 
a prime, even-colored reddish-buff male, and twelve 
females that match him in color — in their fresh and 
unbroken plumage. To mate which, however, birds, if 
of the same age, if the pullets be of a pure clear reddish 
buff (orange buff, the term some use), and a cock be 
their mate, may be of the same color. Such a male 
would have been as a cockerel, a very dark, almost a 
red buff, so to speak. This inexorable law of decay 
makes us ever on the lookout for this waste in color. 
We therefore say : 

THE MATING 

most to be coveted would be a cock of one even red- 
dish-buff color from head to tail, with no white under 
color in him ; his tail black, tipped out with chestnut ; 
the coverts chestnut, streaked with dark color; lesser 
coverts reddish buff, and in form Standard, or to con- 
form to description given in gentleman's mating for 
Partridge-Cochins. To such a sire mate pullets of the 



204 POULTRY CULTURE. 

same rich buff color free from white in flights and 
undercolor, chestnut tail or buff, dark color showing in 
flights. Pullets fully up to Standard weight. With 
such a mating males and females would appear in the 
progeny of a high order. 

Mating No. 2. — A cocjcerel of a deep reddish-buff 
color, with chestnut tail and wings, Standard in other 
respects, should be mated to hens that are pure buff in 
color, medium in shade, and in form of structure as 
described in the Standard, coming from pullets the 
year before that were dark buff. 

Mating No. j. — A cock of medium shade, the result 
of a reddi h-buff cockerel, but showing black in wings 
and tail, mated to pullets that are good exhibition color, 
will produce fine females, while pullets very dark in 
shade mated to this same bird will produce fine males. 

Mating No. /f.. — Males dark in every respect, even 
having nearly black tails, should be mated to hens of 
pale buff, though of an even shade. Where pullets are 
used in same pen with hens the pullets should be fully 
five to seven shades darker if the male is to prove 
equally good in his mating with both. 

This, as looked at from a Light Brahma standpoint, 
may not seem good policy. But many a buff breeder 
has learned to his sorrow and the flattening out of his 
purse that in killing for several years these reddish-buff 
males that they appear less frequent in the chickens, 
and he has rejoiced at it, till he came to mate up in the 
spring he found all his males tainted with white in 
flights and tail and undercolor, and he in a position to 
be obliged to purchase some of those to what has seemed 
to him scrubs, these dark red buff males, to enable him 



MATING. 205 

to regain his lost color. These faded colored hens are 
the very mates for such birds, and from their female 
progeny to mate, to reap the benefit of these dark males. 
When these pullets are mated to Standard-colored 
males of his strain, show me the man that discards alto- 
gether these dark males in his breeding, and I will show 
you a breeder who is mourning over his lost prestige of 
color in his buff. 

THE BLACK-BREASTED RED GAME. 

King of the gallinaceous race ; to mate which man 
has only to select Standard specimens, and the work is 
done. Thoroughbred they are, and have been, since 
one of them crowed and announced to the world that 
Peter had denied his Lord. Leaving the ark to found 
the universal poultry kingdoms, while its sports and 
arts of men have multiplied the varieties into what we 
call breeds, it has maintained its individual type and 
color, suffering man to sway its color a few shades, but 
ever maintaining that which ever was and ever will be. 
The Black-Red of the farm-yard. The fashion and par- 
tiality now tends to a light or orange red and an ashen 
brown, and demands quite a change in the mating of 
ten years ago. We therefore make this assertion before 
going to the work of mating. The Black-Red is the 
only game that can and does give us chicks true to 
color and true game type in ninety-two per cent of the 
chicks raised ; that all others, except the white, will 
breed Black-Red chicks in their offspring, thus 
disclosing the fact of their prime sire; that the white 
disclose their mongrel breeding by the want of true 
Game Standard form. Therefore in our mating we 



206 POULTRY CULTURE. 

claim that no one can keep up the Games other than 
Black-Reds without cross breeding, so-called. 
But to return to Black-Reds, and to give 

THE ROYAL MATING — NO. I. 

A cock with a head medium long, but when trimmed 
giving a long, clean taper forward, yet set on strong 
at juncture with neck, beak willow, strong and more 
than slightly arched, face bright red, plumage being 
quite red, eyes a bright red, large and full, neck long 
and arched and in color orange-red (we mean that 
color seen in the dark-rind oranges, not a red-clay 
color), the center having a darker shade, but free from 
any black or dark-brown, the hackle being short and 
terminating between shoulders and not reaching far on 
to the back, nor should it cover the shoulder-points 
of wings. Back (wings being set high up) being 
flat at juncture with neck, and in color of plumage a 
rich red, and matching wing-bows in shade; saddle 
feathers shading from back into an orange-red, the same 
or a trifle lighter than neck-hackle. Breast should be 
full enough to have a slight curve in its sweep from 
shoulder-point to shoulder-point and a fair full sweep 
from throat to breast-bone, which should be perfectly 
straight. The body being round at side but tapering 
at sides to tail, the lower tapering by a curve line of 
stern to tail, the back being a straight line from hackle 
to tail, breast and body being a rich metallic black. 

The wing should be in appearance strong, but not 
too long ; heavy at butts, which causes them to remain 
uncovered by breast plumage, the points carried close 
to thigh-points slightly covered by the scanty saddle ; 




BLACK 



.BREASTED KED GAMES. 



207 



MATING. 209 

thighs strong and medium length, covered with black 
plumage, which, carried close to the body, are full in 
outline. Tail medium long. My own taste would be 
long black, the main sickle being full five inches longer 
than tail proper, the lesser sickle diminishing in size 
rapidly to the seventh or smallest, being quite short ; 
the tail carried close together and at medium height ; 
shanks olive color, of fair length, not stilty ; toes long, 
all four flat on the ground, and spur set low down on the 
shank. 

To such a male breed well grown pullets with 
small head, long in appearance, plumage light 
brown, small comb, bright, full, red eyes, with 
dark horn-colored beaks, ear-lobes red, also wattle, 
both very small but fine in texture ; neck long but 
not cranish, having a finished and graceful carriage, 
the color of plumage being a gold color with black stripe 
down center (this combining of the colors has given it 
the Standard description, but we prefer our own); back 
medium in length, flat-iron shape, wide at shoulder and 
receding in a taper to tail at sides, but flat straight line 
on top from shoulder to tail ; breast tolerably full, pre- 
serving a circular outline from side to side, and throat 
to breast bone, which should be straight, breast being 
light salmon color shading to an ashen brown color of 
body and underparts near thighs. Body compact, solid, 
tapering toward tail. Stern tapers as much as consist- 
ent with the sex ; wings fair size, put on high up, which 
gives the flat appearance of back not held close to 
breast, but front held smoothly folded close against the 
sides ; back and wing-bows are ashen brown, penciled 
with black (but it has the appearance of dark brown 



210 POULTRY CULTURE. 

pencilings), free from a red or salmon tinge, primaries 
a dull black or dark brown ; tail a dull black, carried 
at an angle of forty-five degrees and held neatly to- 
gether ; thighs rather long, sufficiently large to look 
strong, the plumage a light ashen brown ; shanks should 
be olive color and of fair length, not stilty ; feet flat 
on the ground, hind toe being low down on shank and 
reaching the ground in a fiat pressure. They should be 
close-feathered specimens, the plumage clinging close 
to body. 

From this mating the progeny, both male and female, 
ninety per cent of the chicks will be all one could wish 
or should expect. 

Mating No. 2. — Cockerels, all we have described in 
the Royal mating, except that in the red of his plumage 
it be darker in shade, reaching an almost rich red, as 
seen in the old Standard. 

To them mate hens that were as pullets like pullets 
of No. I, but have as fowls molted into light brown, 
penciled with dark brown, their legs and beaks hav- 
ing taken on the lighter shade of color of age, in fact 
approaching the color called " Weedon." 

Mating No. j. — A male in form and structure same 
as described in Royal Mating No. i, except that he 
be taller, long in thigh and shank and lighter in the red 
plumage. 

To him mate those pullets that have bred to dark 
in color throughout, having short thighs and shanks, 
being dark brown, penciled with black, and having a 
dark salmon-colored breast. This is a utility mating 
to be sure. 



MATING. 211 

BROWN-BREASTED RED GAMES. 

What may have been said so far as it affects form 
in the structure of the Royal mating affects the brown 
red also. But in color a brown-red is a black bird, with 
the following exceptions : The head plumage is a very 
dark red, his eyes are black, beak a very dark brownish 
black, hackle laced with dark red near head and shading 
in a wide lacing into lemon color at the point, the 
breast feathers being a reddish brown in the shaft and 
round the tips laced with same color, black at the neck 
and shading into a black body and thighs, back and 
wing-bows a very dark red, saddle shading from dark 
red into lemon color at points of the feather, neatly 
striped with a fine line of black ; tail black and like the 
Royal cock ; legs a dark olive. Such should be the 
cock in the Royal mating in brown-reds. 

Pullets, in appearance, black, with this qualification : 
Head dark brownish black, beak black, eyes dark brown 
or black, comb, ear-lobe and wattles a purple-red, neck 
plumage lemon color, striped with black ; back a brown- 
black, legs dark olive; black in all other parts not 
described and in form of structure as described for hens 
in Royal black-reds. 

Mating No. 2. — Cockerel same in form, color of eyes, 
shanks as cock described above, except that the breast 
have only the brown-red shaft in the feather, lacing of 
hackle being narrow and darker in color, back and wing- 
bows extremely dark, saddle in the lacing being orange- 
red instead of lemon color, thighs and shanks very 
long, balance as to structure as in male No. i. 

Females to be hens that are light color, being nearer 



212 POULTRY CULTURE, 

a dark brown than black, hackle very light, the black 
stripe in same more or less penciled with lemon color ; 
thighs and shanks appearing rather short for Game 
symmetry; eyes and shanks in color as Mating No. i. 

Mating No. j. — Male very high colored in hackle 
and saddle, with back and wing-bows light red, breast 
having full shaft and wide lacing of bronze-red, even 
some breast feathers cherry color, light color beak and 
legs, eyes approach bay. 

To such, mate females black, with no other color 
except the gold lacing of the neck plumage with brown 
and black legs, black beak and black eyes ; in all else 
Standard described as to form of structure. 

RED PILE GAMES. 

Here we find hard work to keep up to the Standard 
in color, and a race that loses color fast by both age 
and by breeding, the average color of the chicks being 
below the rich color of the parent stock. 

In this breed we have this course only lo pursue, 
for they are the result of black-red males on white 
Game hens, or hens white, that have been produced 
from white sport and white mongrels by breeding into 
the Game blood, and we must make a large allowance 
in color decay. 

Mating No. i. — Cock in form and symmetry as 
described in Standard, but in color to wit: Head chest- 
nut-red, beak yellow with a dark stripe, eyes red, hackle 
a deep chestnut-red, back and wing-bows rich red, saddle 
shading into a light brown red, breast being a white 
laced with a chestnut color, body and thighs white, tail 
white, carried as described for Royal cock, shanks yel- 



MATING. 213 

low. To such a male breed pullets that are deep brownish 
red at the head, comb and wattles red, eyes red, neck 
white, deeply laced with bright gold color, back white, 
clouded with chestnut color, breast a salmon color, the 
body having a shading of a light salmon color, ending 
in thighs white, beak and shank yellow, tail white. 

Mating No. 2. — Cockerel Standard in form, but in all 
the chestnut and shading in color to be of a deeper 
tinge than described in the cock No. i. To him mate 
hens that are lighter in their chestnut shading than 
described for pullets of No. i, mating hens that as pul- 
lets had filled pen No. i the year before. 

Mating No. j. — A black red male such as I describe 
for the Royal mating in black red. To him mate females 
that are nearly white that have been bred from Matings 
Nos. I and 2, for this is the only way you can keep up 
color in Red Piles. Kill every male so bred. The 
prime colored pullets from this mating mated to a light- 
colored male, the get of No. i, will reduce the blood 
so the pullets from such a mating can be mated to 
cockerels that have come in line of No. i. Never, under 
any circumstances, use a male that is the result of 
cross-breeding for color as Mating No. 3. 

GOLDEN DUCKWING GAMES. 

Cock Standard in form and stature, with plumage to 
wit : head straw color, eyes red, hackle the color of the 
straw of ripe rye, or what is called cut straw — free 
from dark stripes of any kind ; back a copper red, 
saddle dark straw color, breast and body black, wing- 
bows golden red, approaching copper red in center, with 
black butts and steel-blue wing coverts, which form the 



314 POULTRY CULTURE. 

deep wide bar of the wing, secondaries dull black 
on inside web, with a yellowish white on outside web, 
primaries black on upper web and whitish yellow on 
the lower web, tail and thighs black, beak and shanks 
yellow. To such a male mate pullets with medium long 
head, dark gray in color, beak yelk)w, eyes red, neck 
whitish gray striped with black, neck being medium 
long, back being a silver gray minutely penciled 
with black, with the shafts a silver color, breast a rich 
salmon color, body shading from breast into dark gray 
with same shade to thighs, wing-bows a silver gray 
minutely penciled with black, primaries a blue slate, 
the secondary being a lighter shade called slaty gray, 
the three rows of single coverts being tinged with the 
salmon color, shafts of plumage being a white gray, tail 
proper a slaty black, the tail coverts being of same 
shade as back, shanks yellow. 

Matifig No. 2. — Cockerel Standard in symmetry and 
stature, whose neck and saddle are a deep straw color, 
whose back and wing-bows are very dark red or dark 
brown copper color. In other respects as in Mating 
No. I. 

To him mate those hens that are pale salmon color 
in breast, white lacing to neck hackle. In other respects 
like pullets described in Mating No. i. 

The mating resorted to to keep up these bright 
colors is best brought about by the mating of a black 
red hen that has a faded color, which is known as the 
" Wheaten Hen," to the cock No. i ; and pullets that 
come from such a mating that are Standard Golden 
Duckwing color mate to a cockerel bred from pen No. i 
that is in neck, hackle and saddle akin to Silver Duck- 



MATING, 



215 



wing color. In this way get the benefit of the black 
red blood that brightens up all Game colors, but never 
use a male from this cross. 



SILVER DUCKWING GAMES. 



These are simply a Golden Duckwing that have the 
back and saddle faded to a silver white where it is straw 
color in the Golden, with a back and wing-bow silver white 




SILVER DUCKWING GAMES 



instead of red or copper color in the male ; and the hen 
the same as the Golden, only that there is no salmon 
tinge in the lower part of the wing. Therefore we are 
obliged in all these Game matings to borrow blood to 
keep up the colors, and in this breed we say few 
breeders that breed Yellow Duckwings but what breed 
the Silver variety also. 



216 POULTRY CULTURE, 

If we knew just what the cross was that produced 
this variety we should know better how to mate, but 
reason supports the assertion that the Silver Dorking 
was the mother crossed with a Golden Duckwing cock, 
for the variety fails woefully in Game symmetry and 
stature. To secure a Standard Game symmetry in this 
race is an exception to the rule. 

We say for Mating No. i. — A cock with a , silver 
white head, olive beak, red eyes and pure silver hackle 
(the less hackle we have the better, for the race, as a 
rule, is heavy in the hackle) ; back and saddle white, 
breast and body coal black ; primaries and secondary 
white in their lower web and black in their upper 
webs ; the bows clear silver white, butts black ; wing- 
coverts, a steel blue, making prominent bars across 
wings ; tail wholly black ; thighs long, and shanks 
medium long and olive in color. To such a male, of 
Standard form, mate if you have them hens that are of 
the following description : Head long, color silver gray, 
willow beaks, eyes red, small combs, whichy with wattles 
and ear-lobe, are red ; no white in the latter ; neck as 
long and graceful as possible, being a nice silver gray 
color, striped with black, the black will be penciled with 
gray; back and wing-bows silver color, penciled mi- 
nutely with a dark stone color; shaft of feathers white ; 
breast, light red wine color, shading to an ashen gray 
body and thighs, the stern being a steel gray color ; 
primaries and secondaries are a stone gray, the outer 
webs being lighter in shade ; tail a dark stone gray, 
approaching to dull black; thigh, ashen gray in color; 
shanks, olive color. 

Mating No. 2. — Cockerel, in description like cock in 



MATING. 217 

Mating No. i. To him, hens that have been bred in 
a Golden Duckwing mating that fill description given 
pullet in Mating No. i for Silver Duckwing ; their 
wings absolutely free from any tinge of salmon color. 

Mating No. j. — May be a cock or cockerel as de- 
scribed in Mating Nos. i or 2. Mate to him hens that 
are up in color, except that they be pale in the breast, 
color being a light salmon, in all other respects up to 
Game Standard form. These colors must be main- 
tained. The short-legged females (the majority of 
these we see in the yard, and many times in the show 
pen) can only be used to advantage with a very long 
thigh and shank in their male mates. If you cannot 
so mate them they had better be used to hatch and rear 
chicks than to waste time in the use of them as breeders. 
TO MATE SOLID BLACK OR WHITE FOWLS. 

In the self-colors, like white and black, a good con- 
stitution and health while breeding is all-important, no 
matter what the breed, for brilliancy of color and purity 
of shade are dependent upon it. 

The rule to guide in mating is as follows : 

A metallic-black male mated to females of the same 
hard smooth surface color is the best for both males 
and females, but such a cock mated to females dead 
black, lacking in brightness and metallic surface, will 
breed fine pullets, but the male progeny is generally 
much poorer than the female. In black there is little to 
do beyond these two distinctions of color. The metal- 
lic hard-finished surface and the dull black, if crossed, 
restores to the progeny the metallic-black desired. 
Birds of this cross should be mated to those of the 
metallic-black mating. 



S18 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



In solid white specimens a!l v/c have to consider is 
form, health and purity of the plumage color, and to 
bear in mind that the sire transmits the purity of color 
to the greatest degree. That in white birds it is folly 
to mate anything but white, both in web and shaft, to 
produce our male breeder, but females with yellowish 




BLACK HAMBURGS. 

tinge and yellow quills must be mated to absolutely 
white males, that the female from the mating coming- 
all white may be used with male of the pure white 
matings, and the color held in control — but males from 
yellow females are not reliable ; health in all self-color 
is, as in all breeding, highly essential to success. 



MATING. 219 

THE HOUDAN. 

The Houdans in France and England rank very much 
as the Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes do in America, 
furnishing excellent poultry in summer and early fall, 
and withal being very good layers, filling the middle 
ground between the small and large fowls of the lands. 
The first importations of these fowls proved very 
unsatisfactory ; those coming from France being much 
smaller than those imported from English breeders, 
the stock having improved in size under their super- 
vision. Since the introduction of Houdans into Amer- 
ica the breed has greatly improved, and we now have 
yards in America where they are seen in perfection. 
They are less subject to roup than formerly, home-bred 
birds being equally as hardy as other breeds, except the 
Asiatics. 

The breed, made up as it is of plumage in feather 
white and black, makes them more subject to loss in 
color by age than most parti-colored breeds, and a 
pullet one-fourth white will generally appear quite 
evenly divided in the two colors as a hen ; while a 
cockerel quite black oftentimes as a cock appears in 
the regulation uniform, and at three or four years old 
looks tolerably white on the lawn. 

Therefore, in mating, the breeder has to allow not 
only for loss in color for breeding, but also for the loss 
by age, and must commence with the young stock 
much darker in one of the sexes than he desires, and 
in his purchases of new blood ought to select dark 
specimens. 

The shape of the crest is of far more importance in 



320 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the cock than the size of it : while in the hen, the 
size of the crest should take precedence. The points 
most desired are: symmetry, form of the sections, and 
color in the males, and size, health, size of crest, and 
fullness of beard in the females. With this be sure to 
have health and egg-productive merit. Therefore we 
recommend mating for the best results in the male 
progeny. 

Mating No. i. — Cockerels a little more than one- 
fourth white, small in comb, finely formed crest, and 
full in beard ; in other respects Standard. 

Hens of good average size that have ripened into 
Standard color, from pullets that were quite dark in 
plumage, large crests, full beard, and small combs. 

Mating No. 2. — Cock that has ripened into Standard 
color from a cockerel like No. i. 

Pullets somewhat darker than Standard color ; in 
form of crest, legs and toes as described in Standard. 
Such a pen will breed good birds of both sexes. 

Mating No. j. — Males evenly broken in white and 
black plumage. 

Females very dark in plumage. If this mating be 
kept up there will soon be less light-plumaged birds, 
and the plumage will be more uniform than it would 
if light-colored sires were used. 

Mating No. /f.. — Male nearly black, with beak and 
legs dark-colored. 

Pullets showing three-fifths or more white in plum- 
age. In this way all the stock can be utilized except 
extremely light-colored cockerels of the breed, which 
should be killed, for their use will in a few years bleach 
out the flock to a greater extent than is desirable. 



1 




HOTJDANS. 



221 



BBBEBiMaimnnT'g 



MATING. 223 

We see no reason why this breed cannot be kept up 
to Standard color ; and surely its practical worth has 
been very much improved. 

What a few have done in size, the many ought to be 
able to do ; but in making weight, do not lose sight of 
the egg-productive merit, for that once impaired would 
be a severe blow to the breed. 

PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 

This breed, in its different families, is cross-bred in 
foundation blood, with top crosses of the Dominique 
to secure the color. To notice some of the modes which 
have produced these beautiful birds we cite : 

1. Black Spanish on White Cochin, top crossed with 
Dominique. 

2. Black Spanish on Gray Dorkings, top crossed 
with Dominique. 

3. Dominique on Buff-Cochin hens, reaching the 
result through the strong breeding-color quality of the 
Dominique by years of breeding. 

4. White Birmingham on the Black Java, top 
crossed with Dominique. 

5. White Birmingham on the Black Java, and the 
progeny bred together, the progeny coming white and 
black, and Dominique. These Dominique-colored 
birds, bred with the males produced by Mating No. 4, 
produced the best and surest breeders for color of 
plumage and legs, and were known by many as the 
Essex strain, being the same in foundation blood as 
seen in the so-called Mark Pitman birds of 1872-3. 

Thus we see that they are the result of mating 
thoroughbreds so strong in color-pigment as to produce 



224 POULTRY CULTURE. 

new types, neither being strong enough to control the 
color. Thus has the color of this breed been estab- 
lished, and the fact that light and dark colors have 
been mated to produce the breed has caused breeders 
of this variety to adopt the theory that the color must 
be maintained by mating the birds by the same rule. 

It should be remembered that this breed is cross- 
bred in its origin, and being in most cases not far 
removed from the first crosses there will be a con- 
tinued struggle of the different bloods for supremacy, 
and we find more cases of reversion to the original 
than in older and well established breeds ; yet the 
same law, in the main, controls it, and although both 
sexes in the progeny do not grow lighter alike, yet the 
tendency is for the males to breed to the light extreme, 
while a large percentage of the females are good in 
color and the balance favor the dark extreme ; yet 
when we consider the whole progeny (although we are 
led to doubt the general rule when we think of the few 
black pullets that sometimes appear) the preponderance 
of testimony goes to prove that it, like all other breeds, 
grows lighter by breeding. 

We now have the breed well on the way to perfec- 
tion, and as we shall be troubled less with reversion of 
the progeny to the first crosses the farther we get from 
them, all can see the folly of trying to make the breed, 
instead of buying those now perfected 

The universal rule of mating light-colored males to 
dark-colored females is clearly a mistake, for the 
male in his line generally stamps the males in plum- 
age like himself — a type in this case which we do not 
desire. 




PLYMOUTH ROCKS, 



225 



MATING. 227 

We mated in 1876 a more than medium-dark male 
to nearly black-barred females, and the result was the 
best colored flock of Plymouth Rock chickens we ever 
saw. There was not a black pullet in the lot, and the 
lightest shade in the males would be called medium 
color, while a light-gray male used on these same 
females produced but few desirable colored females, 
and all but very few of the cockerels were the counter- 
part of the sire. Surely in this breed it pays to " find 
the highest type to perform the paternal act " if we 
expect to produce our ideal chickens. 

These rules must not be condemned upon one ex- 
ception. " A single swallow does not make a summer." 
A light cockerel for a single season may breed splendid 
chicks, breeding back to a perfect sire, but it is morally 
certain that his sons will revert, with double force to 
the evils found in him ; for, if in all other breeds we 
find the rule that the chicks favor the grandparents, 
why should this prove an exception ? The breed, as it 
becomes more and more perfected, will be governed 
more and more by the rule applying to other breeds. 

In the light of our experience with this breed so 
far, and finding it so in unison with our experiments 
with the Light Brahmas, we recommend the matings 
of this breed as follows : 

Mating No. i. — Males with breast of the color de- 
sired in the females, with yellow beak and legs, with 
neck, back and tail evenly barred, the light shade 
predominating, yet free from any white feathers in 
flights or tail, mated to females in plumage slightly 
darker than, yet accurately described by, the Standard. 
This should be the mating to preserve the male line. 



228 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



Mating No. 2.— A cock like the one described in 
Mating No. i, mated to females slightly lighter in color 
than described by the Standard, will be found to pro- 
duce such females as the popular taste requires ; but 
the males will be hardly up to color. 

Mating No. j.— Males a light medium in color, 
mated to the very darkest females. Males exceedingly 
dark from this mating should not be used in one's best 
pens, for the very extremes should be avoided. 

Mating No. ^.— Males much darker than the me- 
dium, with very deep yellow beak and legs, mated to 
hght-colored females (those having either gray breasts 
and white or cloudy neck feathering), will be found to 
produce many very fine chicks, and the mating stands 
upon the same basis as Mating No. 6 in Light Brahmas. 
All the faded light-colored males should not be used in 
breeding for fancy points. They cannot do the breeder 
any good, unless wanted for poultry purposes. 

The above have been for ten years the modes of 
mating with most breeders, except that the high price 
paid for light-colored females has led many to breed 
their very best even-colored light pullets to extremely 
light-colored males, and a large percentage of prime 
females have been bred, but from a thoroughbred point 
of view this is all wrong, for every male has been killed 
for poultry and thereby one sees one-half the progeny 
sacrificed. It has led others to wish to change the 
Standard, and to make this light gray male they have 
been raising a Standard-colored male, instead of 
mating Standard-colored males and females together] 
when twice as many chicks to the hundred would 
reach ninety or more points than is the case in the! 



MATING. 229 

mating alluded to above, for in that case probably three- 
eighths of the birds reach ninety or more points, for 
hardly one in the male half reach ninety, while males 
of Standard color mated to females of Standard color 
will breed at least three-fourths to score ninety or 
more. The discussions of late in the journals have 
disclosed this state of things to the knowing ones. 

The color of the breast, eye and beak are the best 
indications of color in breeding. A sire medium in 
color of plumage, with a deep yellow beak, in which 
is seen indications of a color-stripe, and with a deep 
bay eye, will breed darker-colored chicks than will a 
sire dark in plumage, light in beak, and having a light- 
colored eye. 

We believe the requirements of the Standard in the 
color of the leg to be too arbitrary. There is no rea- 
son why this breed should not be as impartially dealt 
with as the Dark Brahmas, and like them allowed to 
be yellow or dusky yellow in the legs. There is more 
dark leg blood in the Plymouth Rock than in the Dark 
Brahma. Again, the females seldom if ever come yel- 
low in leg when chicks, but as they approach maturity 
grow brighter in color and clearer in shade, becoming 
quite yellow by the time they lay their first egg. 

The late action of the American Poultry Society 
has done much to preserve the breed in its most prac- 
tical form, the weight now being more in keeping with 
the eternal fitness of things, and a weight at which 
greater beauty and more prolific laying are the result. 

They are a breed made up of cross-breeding the 
thoroughbreds, and by this same breeding have we 
got to maintain the race in its present popularity. The 



230 POULTRY CULTURE. 

last edition of the Standard has made it better, how- 
ever, for a smoky tinge to front part of leg in females 
now is allowed to go uncut. An absolute yellow leg 
with no black scales or smoky tinge must be admitted 
in the females as in the minority, and we are almost 
forced to say the exception to the rule of color. The 
males hatch lighter in color of legs, generally quite 
yellow from the start, not one in ten exhibited being 
cut in the legs for color. All chicks molt twice before 
they are old enough to breed, the females growing 
lighter in color till the third month, while the males 
as a rule molt darker — so much so that many, a cock- 
erel gets condemned to help fill the broiler market that 
if kept to molt into a mature bird would win prizes. 

As a rule a male to score ninety-four points will 
bring twice — yes, three times — what a pullet will to score 
the same. We all see the tendency the females have 
to breed to black. This is not strange, the first maternal 
ancestor was a Black Java hen. While the males breed 
back to white the White Birmingham mate of the Java 
hen. We have said that by cross-breeding we should 
keep up this blood. There are numerous White Sports 
in Plymouth Rocks to-day being sold as White Plym- 
outh Rocks. If these were to be bred to prime colored 
males and bred back they would do much to dispose of 
the dark, smutty specimens now in use. Or should some 
one breed a large white Asiatic to prime males, and 
breed back for two generations before using the cross 
in stock, the same would help to counteract this now 
prevailing tendency to very dark females. Much more 
could be said on this cross-bred race, but I close with 
what I call the best mating for Plymouth Rocks, — one 



MATING. 231 

upon which I will stake my prophecy as a breeder, my 
integrity and reputation as a mater of them, and my 
fortune as a man, as being the one that will produce 
more Standard, or more chicks to score ninety or more 
points in a hundred, than any other mating to be made : 
THE NE PLUS ULTRA MATING. 
A cockerel weighing eight and a-half to nine pounds, 
having a low, straight, evenly serrated comb of six to 
eight serratures; medium size head, bluish gray, marked 
across with dark blue ; eyes a bright red ; wattles 
rather large, though of fine texture; fair size, bright red 
ear-lobes ; necks of fair length, well arched and full in 
hackle, the color being almost white shown on white 
paper, the bars across being very dark blue ; back flat 
at shoulder, not long in appearance, color being bluish- 
gray, barred with the darkest shade known to blue, 
the back having a nice concave sweep as it turns in a 
sharper sweep to tail; from hackle to tail back lower at 
saddle than at hackle (all cuts are made much higher 
there, but they are wrong) ; tail carried well up, but not 
reaching the perpendicular position of the sickles ; tail 
medium size, sickles reaching some three inches 
beyond the tail proper ; saddle shading lighter than 
back to a tail that is still lighter in its shadings of 
bluish-gray, marbled with a darker shade of blue ; a 
breast full, broad and round — not a pouter pigeon ex- 
hibition, but a well turned one, matching well onto a 
round-sided body, breast and body being better ex- 
pressed by a light steel-gray undercolor, barred with a 
deep blue, the bars reaching over the thighs ; the hock 
being clearly defined in profile ; the smoky bars 
visible even in the bluish-gray fluff; legs yellow, fair 



232 POULTRY CULTURE. 

length. Such a male, bred to pullets that are of Standard 
form and symmetry, but having this light steel-gray 
ground-color of plumage evenly based with a deeper 
blue throughout, will forever put to shame the breed- 
ers who tell us that no one can breed Plymouth 
Rocks unless they breed two pens. Let it be what- 
ever mating one may call it, it is all the mating he 
who has but one pen can afford to have if he is to be 
considered a first-class breeder. 

BROWN LEGHORNS. 

The first importation of Brown Leghorns into this 
country was in 1853. This importation was bred along 
the Mystic river, Conn,, and they were then called Red 
Leghorns. These fowls were short in leg, red in ear- 
lobe, and very small in size. The modern acquisition 
of white ear-lobes, long legs, and not more than five 
points in the comb, the dark brown color, and greater 
weight, has been the result of the following crosses 
known to the .writer : Spanish sires bred upon Black 
Red Game hens, and the progeny bred to Brown Leg- 
horn cocks, and this progeny inbred to sire ; again. 
Black Red Game sire upon Black Spanish dams, and 
the progeny bred to Brown Leghorn cock and inbred 
as before, and Black Spanish hens bred to Brown Leg- 
horn cocks, and the progeny inbred. 

Thus we have birds of a type far different from the 
original ones, and the Brown Leghorns of 1885 are as 
much different in color and type from those of 1853 ^-s 
can well be imagined, and they well deserve the appel- 
lation of an American-bred bird. Now there is an 
excuse for these crosses. They were found to be 




233 



MATING. 235 

chance birds in their own country, but in acclimating 
proved a valuable acquisition to this country's poultry 
stock. Finding the stock indifferently bred in its native 
country, it was considered easier to produce blood 
for new infusions from a foreign element, which was of 
greater benefit than to rely on new importations. 
Were we making a specialty of the breed, we would 
certainly make the following crosses for future use, 
viz: A Black Red Game cock upon a mahogany- 
breasted Partridge-Cochin hen, breeding a pullet of 
this mating to a Black Spanish cock ; and that progeny 
to a fine Brown Leghorn cockerel, and breed his pul- 
lets back to him. The breeder would in this way get 
the needed size, quiet disposition, and the constitution 
of the Cochin, and also run clear of the white feathers 
produced by the use of the Clayborne Game of recent 
crosses. 

Breeders will appreciate this trouble, and such a 
stock of birds will in three years be much valued. They 
are needed now, for the race is fast losing size and 
stamina. Of course, size and constitution can be 
given in a single cross, but such a cross would be too 
crude. The half-bred Spanish and Game pullet will 
do this, but it would injure one's reputation to put 
such eggs on the market. Patience and perfect breed- 
ing pays. 

In these crosses, and in fact in all crosses, let the 
point sought for be the get of the breed in which it is 
the prominent feature. For instance, if you would 
cross for a white ear-lobe use the Spanish male on the 
Leghorn female, for the progeny carry back to grand- 
sires, and Spanish crosses will show the white ear even 



236 POULTRY CULTURE, 

in the sixth generation. The result that breeders are 
striving for can be more easily attained in this way 
than by the use of the Spanish hen. The Brown Leg- 
horn race is faulty in this respect for just this reason, 
and it is a very strong proof that the original fowls were 
red in the lobe. We find it much easier to get females 
with fine ears than males. 

In mating the race as we find it at the present time 
we would recommend the following: 

Mating No. i. — Sire, a cockerel with a rich bay hackle 
striped with black, which as a chick was also known 
to have had the neck feathers black in stripe, comb 
having but five points, and in other respects Standard. 

The dam pure salmon brown, but not that deep 
shade sometimes seen ; the ground-color of back and 
wing coverts pure brown, penciled with a darker 
brown, and the feathers of saddle lapping on to the 
tail having a sage tinge to the brown color. Wings 
free from all red or brick color; the hackle free from 
all yellowish-brown pencilings ; comb that stands 
partially erect, rolling at about one-half its height, and 
in other respects as near to the description of the 
Standard as can be obtained. 

This is the " ne plus ultra," and should be the 
mating for the male line. The femciles from this mating 
will be fine also. 

Mating No. 2. — Males as near Standard as possible, 
except the combs should have five points, and the 
neck-hackle may be a light bay with a tolerably good 
stripe in it. A very narrow but black stripe is to be 
preferred, though one broader but not much darker 
than a brown may be tolerated. 



MATING. 337 

Females quite dark in the salmon shade of breast, 
wings and back brown with penciling that shades 
nearer black than brown ; also wings free from any red 
shading. In other respects Standard. Such a mating 
will produce as fine females as Mating No. i. 

Mating No.j. — Males of a like character as described 
in Mating No. 2, yet a lighter shade can be indulged in. 

Pullets with exceedingly dark breasts, and having 
the red tinge in the wings. This reddish tinge is a 
serious fault, yet such birds produce many fine chicks. 

Mating No. ^. — Males dark-bay hackled, the stripe 
-being very distinctly defined, even at the base, so wide 
as to form a black necklace around the neck — in fact, 
the dark extreme in color, and Standard as to form. 

Females, those we term the light extreme, whose 
back and wing coverts look like faded brown cloth, and 
pale in breast color. 

The progeny may be restored to color in this cross 
and faulty females thereby utilized. The light, straw- 
hackled, mottle-breasted, and bronze-thighed males 
should be killed, for to use them is an evil to be 
shunned, as described in other breeds. The first and 
second matings are considered the perfect ones, and 
the third and fourth those of expediency or necessity. 
The breed is certainly one of the best for practical 
purposes, and with the Plymouth Rock seems to fill a 
place in the economy of poultry that none of the other 
varieties are so well capable of doing. 

WYANDOTTES. 

This can be claimed as an American breed. We 

must also admit it to be of a cross-bred origin, and like 



238 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the Plymouth Rock ranks as among the middle size 
breeds and pre-eminently fitted for the farm and poult- 
erers' uses. As a producer of broilers to weigh four 
pounds to the pair at twelve to thirteen weeks old it 
has no equal. It is more than an average producer of 
eggs of good size. They are the result of crosses of 
Silver-Spangled Hamburg males with Buff Cochins, also 
with Dark Brahmas. While in some of the original 
crosses the French breeds were included, latterly these 
several crosses have been mated together, and the type 
now known as the Wyandottes the result. The cock 
resembles much the Dark Brahma males, the wide bar 
of the wing the same with this exception : there is a 
row of triangular white spangles through the same and 
a second row near the wing-bow extending up for three 
to four of these spangles in length. 

At the present time the breed is having a " boom " 
— nothing else expresses the wild interest manifested in 
it. The breed is fortunate in the position it holds, 
being like and with the Plymouth Rock the only two 
breeds that hold that middle ground between the Asi- 
atic and smaller breeds. They grow about two weeks 
quicker than the Plymouth Rocks, and fully forty days 
quicker than the Brahmas and Cochins, making them 
highly appreciated by both the farmer and the fancier. 
As show birds they are handsome, the females having 
a plumage that at the head is a nice black-laced narrow 
white-centered feather, breast being white with a narrow 
lacing of jet black shading toward the tail, the white 
centers growing smaller till all merge into a coal-black 
tail. The fluff being a dark slate, or rather white 
smoked over with black to give the above appearance. 




239 



MATING. 341 

So far, the race shows great loss in color by age and 
breeding. Many of the pullets (though as such are nice 
in color) become quite white as fowls of two years of 
age, and already we see these white birds advertised as 
White Wyandottes. We see also the rose-comb 
White Leghorns mated to white and nearly white speci- 
mens, and the progeny offered as White Wyandottes. 
We are sorry to see this White Hamburg blood again 
worked over, as was the case with White Leghorns, 
and there will be another strife to get them again recog- 
nized as White Wyandottes. But we see far more 
utility and a better chance to secure a better bird by 
its use in this way, and by its crossings with large white 
females — a cross breed that could be accepted as a White 
Wyandotte with far better grace and consistency than 
to have accepted the rose-comb White Leghorn. 

To mate these birds, we have for years to use the 
greatest care and judgment, allowing for this great loss 
in color by breeding in our matings, and all males, if 
the best results are to be obtained, must be the darker 
throughout, and a male line first established, if we 
ever hope to see this variety breeding to a uniform 
type. The breeder who first secures in his breeding a 
male line that can be said to be sure in this respect to 
reproduce his sons in their own type and general color, 
will be the breeder to reap the greatest profit from his 
labors. This should be the first work of the breeder of 
them. A course of breeding as recommended in Dark 
Brahmas would be the shortest and surest road to 
success. 

We have elements in this breed hard to manage. 
For example, it is difficult to secure a perfect hackle 



243 POULTRY CULTURE. 

in all else and not have the black smut fringe the 
outer edge of the white lacing of the hackle. The 
first cross or mating toward success we believe to 
be a cockerel weighing eight pounds, with a nice 
head with a broad crown, thus looking short in head, 
with a dark beak, having a yellow point to same, and 
bright bay eyes. If we can get it, a silver colored 
head, comb low down, following closely the curve of 
the crown and as wide at base as at the top, and taper- 
ing to a shorter spike from the center than in Ham- 
burg males. Large Hamburg combs should be con- 
sidered an abomination. The top of the comb should 
be as evenly corrugated as possible. The Standard calls 
it small points, but the uneven surface of the top of 
the comb cannot by any means be called points. He 
should have thin pendent ear-lobes, rich red in color, 
wattles well developed and fine in texture. Neck well 
arched, plumage of same abundant, which gives neck 
a rather short appearance, securing the color as near as 
possible to silver color striped with black, but do not 
discard him if the black runs up the sides of the white 
from the point of hackles if other parts- in breast, 
body and wing-bar are what we desire. Back short, 
apparently flat at shoulders, and white, with a saddle 
that maintains a concave sweep to tail. Let the back 
fall off from hackle to just before it makes the turn up- 
ward to the tail. Saddle should be silver color, striped 
with black, the back being a plain silver color, also the 
wing-bow of this same color, approaching white, wing 
fronts mixed with if not quite black, primaries black, 
with a narrow outer edging of white; in the secondaries 
the outer web should have a wide white lacing, balance 



MATING. 243 

black. Wing coverts should be in the upper web coal- 
black, and turning the point with a hook around the 
point of feather, coming to a point at the lower edge 
of outer web, which should be white. These feathers 
lapping out over the other give us the wide Dark 
Brahma bar, with the row and a half of white spangles 
through it. Breast at throat black and looking quite 
black in front of breast, but if the feathers be parted, 
will show narrow white centers, these white centers 
growing larger as the breast merges into the body ; but 
the thighs should hold black with the fluff being dark 
slate color, breast full and round, hocks well defined in 
profile, the fluff by no means enveloping them. Tail 
black throughout. Such should be the male to found 
our line of sires. 

To which mate hens that were fair colored pullets, 
but in their transition to fowls have lost their color 
somewhat, they, however, being all that is desirable in 
comb, being like the male described, but smaller, hav- 
ing a neck hackle that retains the black stripe with 
white lacing, back that has but slight convexed turn to 
cushion, breast may have crescent black tips to the 
plumage and wing, the white centers in the bow being 
free from black pencilings, wings whose coverts have 
black centers, striped and small black points, fluff may 
be light colored and tail tinted with white, the saddle 
having large white centers, which may be penciled, 
thighs gray; in fact, a rather light specimen, but not so 
light that at a few rods off she would look shabby on 
account of her color. This our first cross, "why?" be- 
cause to mate a full Standard colored female to such a 
bird would be to breed black females. We have now 



344 POULTRY CULTURE. 

started, giving the male the darker blood, and as color 
comes with greater force from the male, give him the 
task to darken up the progeny from the female stand- 
point, which is lighter. From this, or crosses like this, 
which we call the initiatory cross, we will have 
females of prime color in a Standard sense. We will 
also have females that will fall but very little be- 
low it in color. These latter we will in the sec- 
ond year mate to their sire as the established link 
in starting our line of sires, while we also mate the 
dam to a cockerel that has come to the exact image of 
the sire No. i, and from their chicks we select our 
Standard colored pullets, which shall make up our first 
pen and mating, and the cockerels, the produce of the 
old cock with the pullets spaken of, will come our first 
sire in line, and we say, after all this initiatory work, 
for 

Mating No. i. — A male like our original described 
sire, except that the breast be black with small white 
centers, thighs stone color Avith fluff dark stone color 
approaching black. 

Mate pullets weighing full five ana three-quarters to 
six pounds, full breasts, plumage of same fully laced, yet 
the white center of good size, and to grow smaller in the 
plumage and the black lacing wider as it approaches the 
tail, when it merges into a full black tail and dark stone- 
colored fluff, with thighs nearly black, beak and shanks 
yellow, comb as described in the ancestors. This 
mating to produce one line of sires, and no sire should 
be used from any other mating if we hope to see this 
breed reach that accuracy and uniformity of breeding 
we see in Light Brahmas. 



MATING. 245 

Mating No. 2. — A male that has the form of struct- 
ure consistent with Standard requirement, and good 
clear color ; save, I care not how black he be in breast, 
wing-bar and tail, with dark stone-colored fluff. With 
such mate the pullets that look well from a distance, 
but show breast off in color, the lacing having crescents, 
the white in the middle of web of feather reaching 
the outer edge, with wide white center, penciled in 
the cushion plumage, and having light-colored fluff and 
legs. 

Mating No. j. — Cockerel having a pure silver-colored 
lacing and neck, back nearly white, silver white laced 
breast with wide centers, gray thighs and breast, wing- 
bar, if possible, with the color described, gray fluff, tail 
black, beak and leg yellow. 

Females with dark heads and beaks and dark hackles, 
back and cushion nearly black, heavy laced breast, body 
and thighs, and fluff black. Males from such a mating 
should all be killed as broilers. The Standard-colored 
pullets from such a mating will make good mates for 
Standard described male from Mating No. i. 

This plan will have to be followed out before we 
can sell eggs with the confidence, we now feel in selling 
eggs from Black Red Games, Light Brahmas and White 
Leghorns, and until such a line of breeding has been 
accomplished no purchaser of eggs from this breed has 
any right to censure the seller of them, for he is 
doing the best with what he now has in this battle of 
breeding a cross-breed up to that state of perfection in 
which he can say their breeding has been accomplished, 
and they are thoroughbred. 



246 POULTRY CULTURE. 



SILVER-GRAY DORKINGS. 



There is but one mating for these birds ; any other 
is a utiHty one, and only necessity should force us to 
make them. 

A male of Standard description, or, in our own 
words, to weigh eight or more pounds, with a large 
head, silver white in color, beak flesh color and well 
curved, red eyes, single comb of medium size, having 
six even serrations ; no side sprigs ; ear-lobes of fair 
size, with nice, well rounded wattles ; neck so full in 
plumage as to look large and not long, yet we would 
not say short in describing it ; the hackle being as near 
a light silver color as possible ; the breast full and 
heavy, large for the breed, and black as can be ; body 
long, yet full sided, black, with short, heavy thighs, also 
black in color; tail large and very full, all of which 
should be black and casting green reflections in the 
sun ; the lesser coverts only may be edged with silver 
white ; shanks, what is called flesh color, nearly the 
color of one's finger nails ; five toes, the last or upper 
one making a scimeter shape in its sweep upward 
toward the hock.- Such is the only male to be used 
in this breed, mating him with females, to wit : 
those weighing from five and one-half to six pounds, as 
near as possible, having a neat shaped head, silver-gray 
in color, with eyes a bright bay or red ; beak not long, 
but well curved and the color of one's thumb nails ; 
comb single, fine in texture, which causes it to fall to 
one side, smoothly, however ; ear-lobe fairly developed ; 
wattles small, but well rounded in outline; a full plum- 
aged neck, causing it to look rather short, and what is 



MATING. 247 

termed gray slate color, with white shafts to feather, 
each side of which nearly black, and outer edge of 
feather light gray in shade ; back rather long, of good 
width, the feathers being silver color, penciled minutely 
with stone color, the combination giving them the 
silver-gray color of the Standard ; breast should be 
carried forward, being full and of the color of the 
robin, a dark shade of salmon ; the breast-bone is 
carried low, giving body a deep look in profile, yet 
good specimens are quite round at the side ; the color 
of body not so dark a shade as breast, but fading out 
into ash color in thighs, the fluff being stone color; 
primaries a dark stone color, approaching black, with 
secondaries same color, the outer edge being silver-gray ; 
the wing-bows silver color, minutely penciled over with 
a stone color, the wing being large but closely folded to 
sides and embedded at the butts in breast plumage; 
tail stone gray outside, the inner webs shading darker 
in color; shanks a white flesh color, fine toes, the hind 
one the largest and turned well up toward shank. 

To mate any of the balance would be folly, for all 
those having a reddish shade in wings or body plumage 
would be but poor material ; one can only turn them 
over to the colored cocks to breed for the spit, and to 
use male with splashed breast and gray thighs is but 
increasing the disqualified birds in their progeny. 

IN MATING COLORED DORKINGS 

simply follow the Standard description in both male 
and female for color and form ; be sure they are in 
perfect health. Discard all others for. poulterer's pur- 
poses. As a race they have not been considered beau- 



248 POULTRY CULTURE. 

tiful, nor have they been numerous in our poultry 
exhibitions, but are bred, from the epicure's stand- 
point, for table purposes, but of late more attention is 
manifest in the breed, and they are sought for for 
Standard merit as well as utility. 

GOLDEN-SPANGLED HAMBURGS. 

Mating No. i. — Cock with a small neat head, rich 
deep bay in color, beak dark horn color, eyes bay, face 
free from white, ear-lobe nearly round arid white comb 
about twice the width across the top surface as the 
skull is wide, being square in front and running back 
with a nice 'taper into a well formed spike, which 
should hold up from the skull so as to preserve a straight 
line from center of comb to rear peak of the same; a 
full flowing hackle of rich bay striped with black to 
point of feather ; back reddish or dark bay, the tips of 
feathers having ticks of black ; the saddle, like the neck, 
should shade to a golden bay and the feather striped 
with a well defined stripe of black; breast very large 
and round, plumage a golden bay, the tips of the 
feathers spangled with a round black spot, a body round 
at sides; plumage the same as breast and clinging 
close to the form, large long wings, primaries black 
with lower edge bay in color, secondary a golden bay 
in lower web, tipped with black, crescent in form, the 
inner well merging into black. Wing coverts should 
form two distinct bars across the wing, greenish black ; 
these bars must be distinct and striking; tail black 
throughout, under part of body and fluff free from 
taints of white ; shank not long, yet they should not 




COLORED DORKINGS. 



249 



MATING. 251 

look short and give the bird a low-set appearance, 
slaty-blue in color. 

To such a male mate pullet with a head of same 
general description except the comb, wattles very sir.all in 
comparison to the male, a neat, well arched neck, the 
colors distinct, having no golden penciling in the black 
stripe. The spangle throughout should be round black 
spots and light enough in color to show the spots dis- 
tinctly, not lapping one on the other except in back, and 
there as little as possible ; bay eyes, Standard form — 
and we have the mating to produce our best males. 

Mating. No. 2. — A cockerel in color as above de- 
scribed for cock No. i, being well developed in breast. 
To such mate the pullets Standard in form of body, 
but having the crescent-shaped spangles, also the hens 
that have lost color from molting, being pullets the 
year before, as described in Mating No. i. 

Mating No. j. — Male of good bright golden bay 
color, whose spangles in breast and body have taken a 
crescent shape rather than the round spangle, and 
slight falling off in the black ; marking of body and 
thighs the golden color, creeping into the tail plumage. 
Mate those very dark pullets whose backs show very 
little golden color between the large black points of 
the feather and black undercolor, whose tail coverts 
are nearly black and breast spangles overlap one 
another. From this mating many times we get some 
of the finest females. 

We think it folly to use Golden Hamburgs, male or 
female, that are tainted with white spots along the 
lower part of body. The race is purely a fancy one, 
and unless up to Standard in all points will not sell for 



252 POULTRY CULTURE. 

a price that pays. While Mr. Wright considers them 
poor layers, we cannot agree with him, for we have 
had hens that laid 151 eggs in six months. The eggs 
are small, however, and poultry not appreciated. They 
are kept for their beautiful plumage and symmetrical 
appearance. 

SILVER-SPANGLED HAMBURGS. 

We often hear the remark that the Silver differs 
from the Golden variety simply in that it is white 
in the plumage where the Golden is of a golden bay 
color. This is a sad mistake. To mate this breed for 

Mating No. i, we say, males as near Standard de- 
scription as it is possible to get them, except in tail 
proper so dark as to be a slaty-gray, mixed with white; 
lesser sickles tainted in a like manner, but the tip of 
the feather having the full round black spangle. To 
this male mate females of Standard description 
throughout. 

Mating No. 2. — Males with Standard-described 
comb, ear-lobes, wattles, beak and legs, eyes very 
black, breast very dark, looking quite black in front 
— no matter if fully one-third the breast feathers 
be solid black. To this male mate pullets with 
crescent-shaped spangles, with indistinct bars across 
the wings, whose breast spangles have lost the brilliant 
black gloss, also hens that have lost color in molting, 
the black having lost the metallic luster so much de- 
sired, in form of breast and body as described by 
Standard. 

Mating No. j. — Male that preserves all the charac- 
teristics of the markings of the breed, only that the 




SILVER-SPANGLED HAMBURGS. 



253 



MATING. 255 

black spangles are very small, the bar of wing, though 
distinct, very narrow, tail white, with the black spangles 
still retained (they will most likely be a dull black), 
breast free and open, no black spangles overlapping, 
yet of good Standard form and symmetry. To such a 
male mate females that are so large in their spangles as 
to show the back black, and in the breast the spangles 
overlap badly ; tail grizzled with stone color, and sides 
of body quite dark. While we must call this extreme 
mating in color, many times one's best show birds come 
from this source, especially the females. 

SILVER-PENCILED HAMBURGS. 

These birds are smaller than their spangled cousins, 
a trifle shorter in body, and a more trim-shaped bird — 
a nice mate for 

Mating No. i. — A cock with a short, small head, 
white beak, bay eyes, comb medium size, the crown 
twice the width of base, square in front and making a 
nice taper to rear and terminating in a nice spike that 
while it seems to turn up only holds its level position 
with crown of comb over the eyes ; a nice, close-fitting, 
round, white ear-lobe, pendent wattles, a nicely arched 
full-hackled neck that is pure white in color ; back not 
long, but silver white in color; saddle grayish white, 
the breast large and full, white in color, no marks of 
foreign color in the same ; body round, white or 
slightly tinged with slate near thighs ; wing-bows white 
when closed ; primaries and secondaries white, except 
in the inside web of secondary, which should be black ; 
tails black, except sickles, which should be edged with 
white ; shanks, a blue preferred. 



256 POULTRY CULTURE. 

To the above male mate females .as near Standard 
described color as it is possible to get them, whose 
breasts are penciled distinctly across and well up to the 
throat. 

In this breed it is poor economy to mate poor 
females. The loss in breeding is severe, and only by 
the use of the darkest male with good females can we 
keep the race up to a high degree and nice pencelings. 
If we had a lot of white-breasted indistinct-penciled 
females we would mate them to a Black Hamburg 
male, and the distinctly-penciled female coming from 
the progeny we would mate to the penciled male, and 
thus create new blood, rather than try to breed up the 
faded specimens. One too dark is a valuable speci- 
men in breeding. A very dark male can be mated to 
the indistinct-penciled-breast pullet, and a good season's 
hatch be the result, but as a rule to use light specimens 
only results in a lot of chicks of a like description. 

THE GOLDEN-PENCILED HAMBURGS, 

being a darker color, we have a better chance to 
breed up a lot of second-class females and two matings 
can be made with success, and to mate which we would 
advise: 

Mating No. i. — Cock, Standard form, medium size 
comb, bay eyes, with a rich I'ed at juncture with head, 
terminating in golden bay at tip of hackle feathers ; 
ear-lobe small and white ; breast large and full for size 
of the bird, rich red at throat, shading downward, and 
terminating in a golden bay body and bay thighs ; 
shanks, blue ; wings rich bay in the bows ; outer web 
of both primaries and secondaries bay, inner web 




SILVER-PENCILED HAMBURGS. 



257 



MATING. 259 

black, those of secondaries penciled, with black tips 
presenting a spangle down the upper edge of wing near 
saddle. 

To this male mate the pullet and hens that carry 
the penciling dark and heavy well up to throat, and 
whose penciled surface throughout seems the greater 
as compared to the light bars, and having no white or 
gray mossy spots in plumage. 

Mating No. 2. — Cockerel rich dark bay, whose tail is 
quite black, having in the sickles a very dark bay edg- 
ing or wholly black. In other general description as in 
male of No. i. 

To which mate the hens having lost color by molt- 
ing, and the pullet whose breasts lack penciling and 
whose general color would be called light as compared 
to females of No. i. From them generally come very 
good females. Few females come so dark as to make 
it advisable to use a light-colored male, and we cer- 
tainly advise the killing of all not fully up to Standard 
described color — any one that opens to a merely white 
undercolor. Golden Hamburgs with white in under- 
color are as worthless as a Buff Cochin male with white 
undercolor. Send to the poulterer all females that show 
white gray coloring in the plumage. 

SILVER-SPANGLED POLISH. 

Many are not aware of the fact that to place a pair 
of these birds on exhibition to match in a gen- 
eral observation of color and to appear alike that the 
female will be spangled with full round black spots, 
Avhile the male will be laced with black. The Standard 
acknowledges both, and in all its descriptions says 



260 POULTRY CULTURE, 

spangled or laced. A male with spangled plumage 
looks very light in color as compared to a female of 
like plumage. This fact, and the fact that a heavy 
laced plumage in the male is much handsomer, makes 
the breeder of them choose such a male to head the 
pens they choose to transmit their line of sires ; there- 
fore, in 

Mating No. i. — We would choose a well grown 
cockerel whose crest was large and every feather in it 
flowed back smooth from and starting high in front, not 
parted in the middle, but falling to the side of neck in 
line with, not below, the lower edge of hackle, the 
color of plumage black at the skull, white or gray in 
the middle of the feather, balance heavily laced with 
black, thus saving the crest from any white blotches ; 
comb very small, consisting of two small horns nearly 
or quite lost in the crest ; ear-lobes white (an over- 
grown straggling crest is an abomination); neck carried 
well back and very much arched, plumage black laced 
and long; breast appearing very prominent, and the 
plumage of the same laced with black ; body tapering 
from breast to tail ; plumage white, the tips of feathers 
being black, spear pointed, the lacings not extending 
the full length of the web of feathers ; back straight 
from hackle to tail (not humpbacked), color white with 
tips laced with black, saddle full and long and well 
laced up from the points in black ; wing-bows white, 
perfectly laced with black ; primaries and secondaries 
white, having crescent-shaped black points to feathers ; 
the coverts white, ending in full black spangles with 
perfect bars across the wings ; tail (if the bird be all 
I have described he will not have a Standard tail) 



MATING. 361 

proper will be black and white mixed, the sickles gray, 
with full black tips, lower coverts of like character; 
but should one be lucky enough to secure a Standard 
tail the bird would be a prize. To such a male 
mate females with dark beaks, dark eyes, and a full 
round crest (secure a perfectly round crest and all the 
size you can) — a crest other than round is a defect. If 
pullets, they may have a black white-laced crest ; if 
hens, they should be white centered and black edged, 
exceedingly small combs, white ears, the neck should be 
long, well arched, head being carried well back, hackle 
white, edged with black, a good broad back at shoulder, 
straight on the upper line and tapering at the sides to 
tail, plumage white, with round black splangles; breast 
full large, plumage white, spangled round and black ; 
body tapers from breast to tail, having the same 
spangled plumage as breast; wing-bows white, fully laced 
with black ; primaries, secondaries and coverts white, 
ending in a heavy crescent of black, tail having the 
spangle round, not moon shape ; slaty-blue legs. 

The above is the best mating to be made. 

Mating No. 2. — A male with all of the above Stand- 
ard form and symmetrical carriage, but plumage in 
breast, body and thighs, spangled, not laced. 

To him mate those females so heavily laced in plum- 
age as to look black in the back and breast, tails quite 
dark, the dark specimens of the race. 

Mating No. J. — A cock that has held his plumage 
to be like male described for Mating No. i, mate with 
him pullets lighter than those described for Mating 
No. I, the spangles being small, also the hens that have 
lost color by age, showing white in crest, and a falling 



263 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



off in the wing markings, being good form, both in 
body and crest. 

GOLDEN-SPANGLED POLISH. 

You have only to follow the same rule, substituting 
the word golden bay for white. The only thing to keep 
in mind is the different style of markings. We used to 
see a pair win over all comers, and not one in fifty knew 




RED PYLE GAME BANTAMS. 



why a laced cock and spangled hen made the best and 
most even-balanced colored pair of a show. For the 
black and white varieties, see page 219. Health in 
these varieties is everything. No race shows its effect 
in the chickens more than they. While it is essential 
that all breeding stock be in perfect health to get the 



MATING. ■ . 263 

best results, it is of the greatest importance that the 
Polish race enjoy it, and have healthy, roomy quarters. 

GOLDEN-LACED SEBRIGHT BANTAMS. 

In mating these birds one has only to secure males 
of Standard color and form, except that the two top 
feathers of tail take quite a curve and incline to a 




GOLDEN-LACED SEBRIGHT BANTAMS. 

scimiter in shape approaching sickles. Without this in- 
dication not one male in ten will be fruitful. When 
the Standard says sickles are disqualifications it was not 
intended to disqualify birds with these scimiter-shaped 
feathers that exceed in length the balance of tail 
proper one inch to an inch and one-half (a feather to 
be a sickle must be the shape of a sickle — the unjust 



264 POULTRY CULTURE. 

disqualifications should cease), a rich golden bay, laced 
with black — no white in undercolor. To such a male 
mate female of bright orange bay, with brilliant black 
lacings ; combs on both perfect in spike — like the 
Golden-Penciled Hamburgs. We cannot mate such 
to pay us. There is never a male so dark that he will 
lift a faded white undercolored, white-spotted female's 
progeny up to a first-class Standard. 

SILVER-LACED SEBRIGHT BANTAMS. 

Mate Standard described birds for Mating No, i, 
and to the medium light female use the darkest and 
blackest laced males, while the very white, poorly laced 
pullets should be bred to a black, rose-combed male, 
and the prime marked female of this cross mated to an 
evenly-laced, lightish colored male, the get of our 
Standard matings, and breed the progeny back. The 
road to nice color and health will be quicker traveled 
than to try to utilize a poor lot of females in any other 
way. 

GAME BANTAMS. 

One has only to follow the rule given for Games, 
taking care to secure the best station and symmetry 
possible. Our Bantams lose station badly, as they 
grow small in size. It is folly to breed them too small. 
We think that these birds just within the limit of 
weight are apt to be the best scoring specimens. We 
believe, also, to hatch them in May, June and July better 
than to hatch late in fall. 



PART III. 

JUDGING FOWLS. 



CHAPTER I. 



ON THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE. 

THE "Standard of Excellence," published by the 
American Poulterers' Association, contains the 
acknowledged groundwork or law by which all the 
judging of fowls in America is done, its scale of points 
being the numerical value of perfection of the sections 
in their sums total, the judges enumerating the out or 
point value of the defects, their sum total deducted 
from the full number of points being the value in 
points of the specimen judged. We do not think any 
breeder's library can be complete without the last 
edition of "The Standard of Excellence." 

Being familiar with this standard makes all scores of 
fowls understood. With " Standard " in hand the judg- 
ing of the breed will be more clearly understood by 
amateur breeders. To old-timers who have long since 
learned the lesson, we have nothing to say, but to 
the novices in breeding and judging of fowls our 
work is dedicated. Such a work as the " Standard " 

265 



266 POULTRY CULTURE. 

must, therefore, if effective, and to result in good, be 
authoritative. They who say it is only to aid, leaving 
the judge to take the extreme views and interpret the 
text in a like manner — to such we say, you are not 
judging in accordance with its teachings. But the 
judge, if an honest one, will form his idea of symmetry 
by carefully considering what a harmonious blending of 
all the sections, they being of Standard described form, 
what such a harmony would produce as a picture, what 
such a living model would be — not what he, as a judge, 
may wish it to be. In color, also, should he fall squarely 
into line with the teachings of the Standard, and not in- 
dulge in expressions to wit, " If I could have my way, 
every feather on a Brahma should be white," and take the 
very extreme in his desire to disqualify under the clause 
black in the web of plumage, doing so when the bluish 
white shade the web, which should be cut for being 
defective, and waiting for the color to be ^'■positive 
black,'' as stated in the Standard, to disqualify. Some 
judges in their dislike disqualify for one isolated fluffy 
black feather if found in the back or breast, doing it 
under such interpretation. This was not the intention 
of the standard makers. Some birds present a back 
spattered with black the moment the white surface color 
is disturbed. This is the defect the makers "^ould 
eradicate, not to disqualify for a single feather, but a 
plurality, say three or more, when such dark objection- 
able color appears to such an extent as to have a harm- 
ful effect in and show a defect of blood and breeding. In 
other words, we are to take the text of the Standard as 
we would that of common law. Using it in that spirit, 
all its teachings become plain and work harmoniously. 



JUDGING. 267 

aiding all in their efforts to breed, mate and judge 
the breeds. This makes the " Standard " the companion 
book of all poultry literature. 

It is a copyright, and from necessity must become 
a companion work, and, as we show its working in the 
act of judging, we must leave it to teach each breeder 
what each breed must be to become Standard in its 
merits, and he or she who secures one will read, we 
hope, what we have to say on judging with twice the 
interest for having first read the " Standard " for the 
breed under discussion. 

When breeding by the teachings of the Standard, or, 
I may say, breeding with a desire to reach the Standard 
merit, the work of breeding, of mating especially, be- 
comes a study — it has an aim in view. We often hear 
the false assertion that to mate Standard specimens is to 
fail in the production of Standard progeny. We must 
emphatically deny this. We know of no breed that we 
cannot take a male as described and breed a female as 
near perfect Standard description as nature will allow 
us to come to it, and produce the largest number of 
chicks to score ninety or more points in the progeny. 
Because one can deviate from the Standard mating and 
produce one of the sex more perfect, causing the other 
sex to score much lower from its effects, is no fault of 
the Standard. No leaf is perfect ; no one specimen in 
animated nature is perfect — no being save "One," the 
Father of the Universe. He created all things : he 
pronounced them "■good,"' not '' perfect ^ If from his 
hand nothing came perfect, then why should we mortals 
demand an absolutely perfect working of the machin- 
ery of mental invention ? We mate for the best 



268 POULTRY CULTURE. 

possible results — the fittest survives ; the lower order 
are to perish that the best may live. The best is to do 
the work of breeding and the races be kept up to a 
high order of excellence. 

When any breeder can name a mating other than 
that found among these birds to score ninety-one points 
or more, that will produce one hundred chickens, male 
and female, to score a larger average number of points, 
then we will acknowledge the Standard a failure. 

The first breed that will be doubted will be the 
Partridge-Cochin. But please wait. Does it not give 
you two types for males in color — thus allowing you to 
vary the color of the females? But in form of the 
structure there is but one law ; the selection of a male, 
one between the shades of rich red and orange red 
may be a Standard color, if striped with black, and 
if no bronze appear would enable the bird to score 
ninety-two points — he would be a Standard specimen. 
To such a Standard pullet be mated, the progeny, both 
male and female counted, will breed chicks and give 
two points odds over any flocks produced by any 
other mating possible in the breed. Because to win 
on a cockerel one sees fit to sacrifice the whole fem.ale 
progeny to the hatchet on account of indistinct marking, 
that an absolute coal black breast and body may be 
obtained, the fault lies with the breeder, not the Stand- 
ard. An absolute Standard mating of the Plymouth 
Rocks will produce the largest number of Standard 
points and give any other mating in the breed two and 
one-half points handicap, and beat them out. The 
darkest male raised is by no means the Standard 
male, but the male that looks bluish-gray, barred with 



JUDGING. 269 

stone-blue bars, whose feather, when plucked and 
laid on sky-blue paper, looks gray, barred with nearly a 
black, but when on the fowls has a blue tinge to plum- 
age. This means both the light and dark bars. A 
blue ground barred with black is by no means a Stand- 
ard bird. Therefore, when the Standard cplor meets 
in both male and female we get true Standard color 
mating, and with Standard form, produces in every 
breed the highest order of perfection in the progeny. 

Again, in black fowls, the metallic black is produced 
in the best and deepest intensity when both male and 
female are of this rich, glossy Standard color. The 
male of Standard blacks will often restore rusty black 
in the female to a nice and rich black in the progeny. 
But a rusty black male will invariably tarnish and 
lower the whole season's get, few if any reaching 
the bright metallic luster the dam may have possessed. 
It is suicide to breed a poor male. He who ignores 
the Standard form and color "sows but the wind to 
reap the whirlwind." "Like as a race begets like." 
This is not true of the individual to so great an extent, 
for there is an ancestral influence, and it is said one 
cannot get rid of his ancestors. A modest specimen 
from a good and well-bred flock is a safer bird than a 
prime though chance bird from a poor and ill-bred 
pair. 

The breeder, in his mating, will never forget the 
ancestry. He looks out that his male line be faultless, 
and as he mates, his mind often runs back for several 
generations for data that control his actions in mating 
— especially does he do this if prompted to use a speci- 
men that is wonderfully good in all but one section, 



270 POULTRY CULTURE. 

that one being very objectionable. No such defect 
having affected the ancestors, he will chance the good 
he hopes to gain by the cross, feeling the strength of 
ancestral breeding will overrule the exceptionally bad 
section in question. 

The Standard is made up with the law of waste in 
color in breeding and by age recognized, and in all its 
mating the progeny will be found much darker than 
the present stock when one year older; and he who 
does not acknowledge its influence shows but little 
wisdom and gives little heed to the school of observa- 
tion. Each revision of the Standard has shown a 
strengthening in its influence in this respect. These 
few hints at Standard influence may not come amiss as 
an introductory to our mode of judging and as a finis 
to our mode of mating. 




CHAPTER II. 



JUDGING THE VARIOUS BREEDS. 




WE are surprised that so few men are able to 
apply the Standard scale of points rapidly and 
correctly. We think the trouble lies in their un- 
willingness to throw aside all personal and precon- 
ceived opinions and let the Standard do the work. If 
we take up the Standard and allow it to teach us what 
the form and color of each section is, there will be no 
trouble. The majority, when they apply the Standard 
to a pet bird, exclaim, '■'the Standard does not fit my 
bird "; they are vexed, and judgment trails in the dust, 
If they say the birds are not up to the Standard, and 
ask the question of their judgment, " How much does it 
fail?" having no feeling of disappointment, but simply 
score out the percentage one's judgment declares on 
the instant to be the value of the defect, before one 
had scored ten birds in that spirit the plan would work 
easily and safe. There is but one question that should 

271 



272 POULTRY CULTURE. 

be put to one's judgment, that is, what percentage of 
the value of the section am I cutting? to wit: here is 
a faulty back, it is oval in shape and bad in color. The 
whole value is six ; equally divide in form and color, to 
cut two points ; judgment says at once thirty-three per 
cent. If judgment sustains the percentage as just, one 
may feel that he does not err in his work. The first 
lesson is to lear7i the Standard, and to learn the form 
and color of each breed by Standard description, then 
one will make less mistakes in symmetry, and this is 
the most fruitful cause of the great differences be- 
tween judges. One judge says without symmetry the 
standard would have no flexibility. We are of the 
opinion a standard should not have any. No law is a 
good one that is not arbitrary and explicit in its appli- 
cation. 

SYMMETRY, 

we have always maintained, was a useless section, and 
still worse, it has no definition by description as applied 
to fowls. We have only been able to say it was the 
harmonious combination of all the parts perfect in 
form. Therefore any one section, imperfect in form 
mars symmetry, thus causing an additional cut under 
that head. Then why not do away with it ? — for it takes 
the position of a stern father who, when his child is 
whipped at school for some short coming, there having 
■baid the penalty, thrashes him when he gets home for 
the fact. Does such usage as a rule carry with it a 
sense of justice to the mind of the child? Cutting for 
symmetry takes the same position. Here are two 
specimens, one perfect in symmetry, the other out one 
and one-half in symmetry, one in shape of back, one 



JUDGING. 273 

out for carrying tail too low, one for carrying head too 
far forward. The one to become perfect like the other 
has only to carry his head back and save the one ; to 
carry the tail in proper position and save that point; 
straighten up in the back by carrying the wings higher 
up, all of which we have seen done ; there have been but 
three points corrected. Now by that improvement 
we have bettered the bird four and one-half points, for 
we have made him equal to the symmetrical one ; then 
it becomes clear to any one that the bird was taxed 
one and one-half points for the fact of being faulty, 
and that every bird perfect in symmetry is scored from 
one-half to two and one-half points, as a rule less severe 
than these birds that are cut for defects. If symmetry 
is to remain in the Standard, then let it represent fif- 
teen points, and cover all defects of form, and let the 
other section be apportioned for color, health and con- 
dition, and profusion of feathering, etc., etc. To do 
this would be folly, then as between the two evils we 
say that symmetry^ must surely go when next the 
Standard is revised, for justice demands it. We want 
no flexible, bending standards, that allow under the 
cut of symmetry a power to manipulate the prizes to 
such an extent as to do injustice. 

So long as it is a part of the Standard we must not 
ignore its force, but the rule should be to cut one-half 
as hard unless it be that breast and body are the de- 
fective sections ; this is the practical worth of the 
specimen. A flat breast cut from one to one and one^ 
half should, we think, sustain a cut of one in symmetry, 
and should symmetry be abandoned we think the ten 
points should be concentrated in the breast, body, 



274 POULTRY CULTURE. 

bac-k and neck, thus augmenting the number of points 
in those sections. This done, many an unpleasant 
difference between judge and exhibitor would be 
avoided, this question of taste in symmetry would be 
taken out of dispute and each section come down to 
Standard description, every defect of which would be- 
come so self-evident that the why and wherefore could 
be explained easily and clearly. The many articles on 
the subject of judging are doing much to enlighten 
the breeders, but in our essay we shall take the actual 
score of some individual birds and elucidate from the 
fact. To say a bird may be cut from one to three 
points as in degree a certain defect may appear, seems 
to fail to enlighten the general reader. We therefore 
commence this chapter on judging by presenting the 

LIGHT BRAHMAS. 

A male, to be considered perfect in symmetry, should 
have a comb erect, neck finely arched, breast full in its 
sweep from throat to thighs, round in the sides, wings 
carried high to give a flat back, the saddle no fuller than 
to preserve a concave sweep from back to tail, the lat- 
ter carried tolerably upright and spread at base, the 
sickle not much exceeding the length of the tail proper, 
legs that stand well apart nearly parallel with each 
other, the fluff while full not to destroy the profile of 
hock joint. With this assertion or pen picture we 
score the cockerel 



JUDGING. 275 



" PHI BETA II, NO. 5876" : 

Symmetry. — Breast falls away from the full round sweep from 
throat , I 

Weight. — Being full Standard weight o 

Condition. — Being smooth in the leg scales, plumage unbroken, 
and in perfect health o 

Head. — Broad, full over the eyes, the beak being yellow, with 
dark stripe down the mandible o 

Comb. — Firm, evenly serrated, but a trifle thick at the point, and a 
trifle too high i 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Both being of equal length, and tine in 
texture, the latter well rounded o 

Neck. — Perfect in shape, but the black in the hackle is not bright 
enough, nor does it reach high enough up i^ 

Back. — Straw-colored by the sun i 

Breast and Body. — Breast is broad and round at sides, but is 
too fiat in front I 

Wings. — Set on right, color all right, except a slight discolora- 
tion of wing-bows I 

Tail. — All that could be desired, being spread at base, and well 
developed and black, except the lesser coverts are grayish 
black, not black centers ^ 

Fluff. — Being full, but not enveloping he hocks, is all right. . . o 

Legs. — Stand well apart. Straight from in front and feathered to 
middle toes, being yellow and smooth in scale o 

Total points out 7 

The birds scoring 93 

It will be seen that breast alone was faulty in form, 
and that being flat in front caused the cut of symmetry 
a point. But this bird is a good all-over specimen, and 
scores high up, the effect of the scorching rays of the 
sun being the cause of nearly all the color cuts of back 
and wings. 



376 POULTRY CULTURE. 



THE PULLET WE HAVE TAKEN TO SCORE. 

Symmetry Cuts, — For the reason: Tail droops, abdomen hangs 
low, wings falling away from back, and back has lost its 
concave sweep, bad condition the cause of two-thirds the 
trouble 4 

Weight. — Weighing over eight pounds o 

Condition. — So fat that her tail droops badly, abdomen hangs 
low, being sallow about the face 3 

Head. — Too long, and being depressed at base of comb, and fails 
to project above the eyes i}^ 

Comb. — Is too large, and while firm on the head turns to one side 
so as to crook all three of the divisions. Though of less 
importance than the same in males we cut 3 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Being well rounded and red in color. . o 

Neck. — Being well arched, and the feather black laced perfectly 
with white o 

Back. — The tail drooping so badly the concave sweep to tail is 
destroyed i 

Breast and Body. — Being round in front and sides as it joins 
the body, and white o 

Wings. — Having fallen away from the back so as to bring them 
below their proper position. Though perfect in color, we cut. Ij4 

Tail. — Droops to a level with back, has white tail coverts 2^ 

Fluff. — Hangs so low as to come far below the hocks, and so 
profuse as to embed the thighs in soft feathers, destroying the 
smooth side surface 2 

Legs. — Middle toes not being feathered. Scale yellow and smooth i 

Total points out 19^2 

The bird scoring 80^ 

Now from the effect of her drooping tail, her sloping 
back, and falling down of abdomen, we cut 4 points in 
symmetry, then we have cut but four-sevenths the outs 
in the sections which effect symmetry, and reduce the 
specimen in flesh, restore her muscles to healthy action. 




LIGHT BRAHMA COCK. 



277 



JUDGING. 279 

shrinking her fluff to reasonable size, letting the tail 
resume its natural shape, and the result would be : 

Symmetry, for Cochin fluff ^ 

Size, lyi lbs I 

Condition. o 

Head 1%. 

Comb 3 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Neck o 

Back o 

Breast and Body o 

Wings o 

Tail I 

Fluff, always will be too large and full about thighs ^ 

Legs I 

Total points out 8^ 

The bird scoring 91)^ 

and you have a first-class specimen. We have seen 
birds in just this condition that have been forced for 
excessive weight and have been censured for the score 
in conformity with the above. This definite score and 
comment upon them we believe will awaken an interest. 
If it but sets the amateur to buying score cards, and 
applying them by scoring his specimens at home, 
more will be effected than all the lectures on the sub- 
ject will do, the best lesson being experience with the 
pencil and card. 

If the head be carried too far forward so as to lessen 
the arch of neck, giving it too straight a look or crouch- 
ing position, cut a point. If the saddle be so full as to 
destroy the concave sweep, that being the extreme of 
the one caused by the drooping tail, cut a point. If 
breast be both flat in front, and, viewed from front, 



280 POULTRY CULTURE. 

wedge-shaped, not round at sides, cut two points. If 
legs be turned in at hocks, cut one to three points if 
they come close together. If the tail be pinched to- 
gether, sickle running out straight, for both evils cut 
two points, or one each, as one or both appear. Wings, 
if too low down, giving back an oval shape from side to 
side at the shoulders, cut both wings and back one each. 
Middle toes smooth, cut one-half point for each one, 
or one point for this failure in Brahmas or Asiatics. 
This was a compromise among breeders, and in the last 
revision the requirement was added, but with the under- 
standing it have but one point of value in adjudicating 
for prizes. White lesser coverts in males and tail 
coverlets in females, cut one point ; white in sickles 
of males, from one to two points. We mean that by 
the movement of the plumage by the wind, if white 
appear above the coverlets by partial parting them, it 
shall show to the surface. To dig down to the very 
roots of the sickle to disclose it is not a just thing to 
do, for the quill-points of nearly every feather in a Light 
Brahma is white. A reasonable construction of the 
English language and fitness of things to which it is 
applied is to govern you in all things, there being no 
exception to that rule. 

DARK BRAHMAS 

seldom score as high as Light Brahmas, for the com- 
plication of color makes it impossible. Each minute 
defect must be noticed in its comparison. This has a 
tendency to cut down the general average so that in 
sweepstake prizes the Darks seldom win over the 
Lights. The male taken for illustration was one of ex- 




DARK BRAHMA COCK. 
281 



JUDGING. ^ 283 

ceedingly beautiful appearance as he stood at a dis- 
tance, nearly all defects being hidden from view. 

Symmetry. — Grand, for he was round in breast, in front and sides, 
back broad and flat, his saddle having the nice concave 
sweep to a tail that was carried in a perfect angle with 

back sickles spreading laterally o 

Weight. — Perfect ; weighing just ii lbs o 

Condition. — In perfect health, no plumage broken, legs smooth, o 

Head. — Broad over eye, the eyes bay, beak horn color o 

Comb. — Had side sections perfect and scrrates even, but middl 
section grew too fast for the sides and had to curl or take a 

serpentine shape I 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Perfect in color and shape o 

Neck. — The very tips of the black stripes v/ere very black, but 
did not extend up the feather, so that the displacement of the 
hackle by the wind or movement of the head disclosed them 

to be gray in stripe. < i% 

Back. — Fair in color, but saddle had the black stripes all grizzled 

up by a gray color i^ 

Breast and Body. — All right, being black and as described above o 
Wings. — All right in color when folded, but come to open them 
the interior flights were white, This is a sad fault in Light 

Brahmas, but still greater one in Dark Brahmas 3 

Tail. — As we have said, grand in shape, but white showed in 
sickles two inches about coverts, tail proper one-third the 

length white 3 

Fluff. — So light in undercolor as to give the fluff a gray look 

when closely inspected 2 

Legs and Toes. — Nice in all else, but the lower portion of the 
feathering was wholly white i^ 

Total points out , , 12,% 

The bird scoring 86|^ 

And we saw the bird we had exclaimed would score 
almost a hundred, viewing him at a few rods off, shrink 
by examination to 86^ points, only ly^ points above 
the minimum score of first class. Now these are seri- 



284 POULTRY CULTURE. 

ous outs in breeding, as white to a large extent in wings 
and tail have a strong effect upon the beauty of all 
they get. This bird in off-hand judging would pass for 
more than his value, while one defective in body, i ; 
breast, i ; back, i ; and carriage of tail, i ; thus making 
a cut of 2^ necessary in syrnmetry, would not get a 
full score at the hands of a judge, and most likely be 
placed second to the one first described and scored. We 
say : White in wings, from i to 3, as in degree ; white 
in sickles, j5^ to 2 points ; white in tail proper, ^ to 3 ; 
bronze or red patches in wing-bow, from ^ to 2 points ; 
bronze in wing-bars, i^ points; bare middle toes, i 
point ; pinched in tail, i point ; splashes of gray in 
breast, i to 2^ points. Round, even, white spots in 
breast are not defects, though some breeders may pre- 
fer to breed from solid black. 

DARK BRAHMA PULLET " JUANETTA." 

Symmetry. — Cushion too high, being convex i 

Weight. — Weighing 7^ pounds i 

Condition. — Had back plumage worn off, unable to say what 

pencilings were t% 

Head. — Brown, not steel gray i 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — White in centers of ear-lobes i 

Neck. — Black in hackle, penciled with gray i 

Back. — Where not broken, was minutely penciled, not penciled 

in circular lines across the feathers 2 

Breast and Body. — Was not penciled up to throat, and had stray 

feathers in it, approaching the color of Partridge-Cochins. ... 3 

Wings. — Were Standard, except white shade in flights in lower web i 

Tail. — Pinched, and too much buried in cushion, Cochin shaped i 

Fluff. — All right, being a beautiful stone color o 

Legs. — Well feathered and dusky yellow o 

Total points out 13 ''< 

The bird scoring 86 J^ 




285 



i. 



JUDGING. 287 

It will be seen in this specimen that, excepting the 
cushion and pointed tail, all were defective in color and 
condition, and the specimen cannot be called an exhi- 
bition bird, for even with symmetry set aside she will 
score but ninety points and would fail to win in close 
competition, though large numbers of first prizes have 
been awarded birds no better. P'ew pullets that have 
a breast as defective as this one, being off in penciling 
and having reddish feathers in breast, have perfectly 
penciled wings ; and it is seldom that a back gets cut 
one and a half to two points for color and character of 
pencilings that the wing does not suffer within one-half 
to one point as much. 

The whole question of judging by points is expressed 
in the one line : It compels minute examinations of 
each and every section laid down hi the Standard for the 
breed. Now any course that secures this makes the 
work better done than to rely on a casual or even a 
close survey, when the specimen is not handled. 

BUFF-COCHINS. 

Self-colored birds simply become a question of uni- 
form shade and brilliancy of color and correct under- 
color. The awards in this breed have many times been 
waited for in suspense and anxiety beyond any other, 
for the reason so many of them will score so near alike. 
We have seen five awards made in the scope of one 
and three-quarter points in a competition of one hun- 
dred and sixty-two entries. It can be safely said no 
man could say which was absolutely best. There was 
but one way to do : Score them and let the footing of 
the cards do the work. The expression, a rich, clear 



288 POULTRY CULTURE, 

buff, means, of course, a reddish buff. A lemon color is 
not a biff. Those birds approaching a yellow buff be- 
come defective ; those birds that drop off into a pale 
drab are defective, and must suffer for color. White in 
undercolor becomes a serious defect ; Avhite or black in 
tail and wings again comes in for punishment. They 
having a form known as Cochin symmetry, we define 

it, to wit: 

THE BUFF-COCHIN COCK, 

having a low, evenly-serrated comb, a short, well-arched 
full-hackled neck, short back and full and abundant 
saddle in which the tail is nearly buried, the tail being 
rolled ; the sickles so smali as to be lost in the tail 
coverlets; breast full; broad, deep, thick body, having 
a fluff that stands out about the thighs ; shanks short, 
heavy and profusely feathered, may be allowed to pass 
uncut in symmetry. A peculiar specimen of this breed 
came under my notice a short time ago — a cock : 

Symmetry. — Back scant in saddle, drooping to a sharp concave 

sweep to tail i^ 

Weight. — Full in weight o 

Condition. — Fluff had partially been picked off by hens, but bal- 
ance was prime color; there was no evidence of ill-health, and 

as it was an accident we checked it (x) o 

Head. — Short, broad, and color rich buff , o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — One had been torn off. i 

Neck. — To all outward appearances it was a rich, bright buff and 
even in shade, but had a white undercolor for two full inches 

from the flesh 3 

Back. — Flat at shoulder, but the back saddle discolored and un- 
dercolor white 3^ 

(This section is worth 10 points. Here we find fully i^ 
points in form of saddle out, and fully 33 per cent defect in 
color; fully ^ of the length of feather was not buff, yet that 
which showed to surface was regulation shade). 




BUFF COCHIN COCK. 



289 



JUDGING. 291 

Breast and Body. — This was all one could desire in form, but 
spotted by isolated deep buff feathers, on an otherwise pale 
buff breast, and added to this white undercolor 3 

Wings. — Bows were red; balance of wing a rich buff, with both 
black and white in the flights. This is a bad complication. The 
bow had gone beyond a rich buff or even bay; the flights had 
white "2.% 

Tail. — Were it not for the white which appears in the sickles 
would be called good for the two inches of white in them. ... \yi 

Fluff. — This, in consideration of the x in condition, we connected 
it with the same and cut for the reason it would be better un- 
derstood under fluff, than to cut a yi point in each i 

Legs. — All right o 

Total points out 17 

The bird scoring 83 

Here, again, is a magnificent-looking bird in general 
appearance that is certainly a poor one for breeding 
purposes, and one standing in a show-room, a visitor 
who does not discriminate between Brahma and Cochin 
symmetry would deem severely used by the judge. It 
only proves how unreliable is the opinion of the visit- 
ing public at our poultry exhibitions. These defects 
appear in a less or greater degree, and have to be fur- 
nished in cut from one-half to three points ; a cut of 
over three points seldom occurs in exhibition birds. 

BUFF COCHIN PULLET. 

Symmetry. — So near up that judgment says not to cut, but because 
of its very excellence we look the bird over a second time and 
come to the conclusion the cushion is not quite full enough, 

and make the cut half under protest ^ 

Weight. — Full o 

Condition. — Health perfect o 

Head. — Fine in shape and color, eye bay o 

Comb. — Low, firm, evenly serrated o 



293 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Neck. — One even rich buff, and undercolor even, but of ligbter 
shade where covered from the air o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Perfect , o 

Back. — One nice shade of rich buff, matching perfectly the neck 

hackle, both in surface and undercolor . y^ 

(Ah, but we cut for symmetry, because this back was defect- 
ive, and to make our score consistent we have to go back and 
erase symmetry or cut now for back, and we again under 
protest cross out the o, and cut ^ point.) 

Breast and Body. — "We see no particular fault, but we so far 
have found nothing to cut, and we look all over carefully and 
find just the merest difference in the shades of the surface 
plumage ; undercolor is all right ; again cut under protest. . . . i 

Wings. — We pull them out ; they are nice ; the bows are even 
rich buff. We are now fully on the watch ; the specimen is 
going to score too high for our reputation as a judge, and 
in despair cut 

Tail. — The last resort. We are conscious that we would like it a 
trifle smaller and more pointed, yet it seems a pity to cut, but 

again we cut ^ 

(Knowing each and every time we have cut so far we have 
cast all doubts against the specimens, when the rule has 
been with us to give the specimen the benefit of at least one- 
half of them.) 

Fluff. — Nice in color and profusion o 

Legs and Toes. — Alas, they are nearly perfect ; the middle toes 
are feathered to near the end, but she is a Cochin, and we 
again cut her i 

Total points out 3^ 

The bird scoring 96)^ 

The belle of the exhibition, and for all that she has 
been scored closer than any bird on exhibition, it is an 
absolute fact that each and every bird that scores 
ninety-four or more honest points (remember we say 
honest points) receives a closer score than is the case 
with birds that score eighty-eight to ninety-three. Not 




BUFF COCHIN PULLET. 



293 



JUDGING. 295 

one judge in fifty that will not, when he finds a bird 
score ninety-five, go carefully over the ground to be 
sure he has made no mistake, and to see if he has cast 
a full half of all the doubts against the specimen. 

PARTRIDGE-COCHINS. 

Like the Dark Brahma, accuracy of penciling goes a 
long way in securing the prizes. Among the males the 
most common defects are found in a too flat and low 
saddle, and too prominent sickle feather, white in under- 
color of hackle, and white in wing and shank plumage. 
These cut deep. It will be seen, as in the case with 
the Buff cock already alluded to, not only that, but 
some judges, failing to analyze closely, are apt to cut in 
breast and body because of the defect spoken of in 
back. 

THE PARTRIDGE-COCHIN COCK " KING." 

Symmetry. — Too flat in saddle, being a perfect Brahma shaped 

back I 

Weight. — lo^ pounds >^ 

Condition. — Come to handle would turn black in comb, show- 
ing symptoms of apoplexy 2 

Head. — All right, having deep red plumage o 

Comb. — Low behind and high in front, with only four serrations, 

uneven at that • 2 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Fair in texture, good color o 

Neck, — Short and having a nice arch, black stripe, prime, but 
the rich bay edging was smutty, with the lower row of hackle 

feathers black 2 

Back. — Flat at shoulders, saddle flat, undercolor of saddle white, 
but the black stripe line 2 



296 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Breast and Body. — Full and round, black in surface but opened 

to a white undercolor 2 

Wings. — Bronzed spots in the bar, with white along the center 

of inside web of primaries i^ 

Tail. — Prime color, but cuts through saddle i 

Fluff — Bronzed up with bay color. . i 

Legs. — Prime in the size and carriage, but the plumage was 
mottled with white i 

Total points out 16 

The bird scoring 84 

A fine looking bird to the gaze of the ordinary vis- 
itor to an exhibition or poultry yard — but eighty-three 
and one-half is a low score to write to a man expecting 
to sell ; and many such birds are sold to the purchaser 
who sees them, and highly prized by the seller, both 
of whom are sadly deceived in him. This bird changes 
hands at a large price and comes before a judge, and 
the result is hard feelings expressed — the seller branded 
as a cheat. In an old-fashioned, open judged show, 
he would be found among the winning samples on 
exhibition. 

PARTRIDGE-COCHIN PULLETS 

are often found light in weight. To show under seven 
months of age but a small number reach Standard 
weight, and not a large number even exceed disqualify- 
ing weight. A Cochin looks larger than it will weigh. 
But the failure to be accurately penciled is the mis- 
chief — and to get a cushion full enough to secure full 
symmetry. 




PARTRIDGE- COCHIN COCK. 



297 



JUDGING. 299 

PULLET. 

Symmetry. — Back flat, breast wedge-shaped i^ 

Size. — Weighing only 6 pounds , 3 

Condition. — In health and smooth in plumage o 

Head. — All right, beak well arched o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — These in nine cases out of teti are all 

right o 

Neck. — Black in the neck, hackle badly penciled with yellow. 

(A slight penciling now goes uncut.) ly^ 

Back. — Flat in cushion, plumage a leaden dull black in the 
penciling, the lighter shade of black being dark brown. (A 
back is valued at ten points, six for color, four for shape. In 
the cut we at 2>}i points have cut but 33 per cent for shape 
and Y®^ for color. When the colors in it are wrong and the 
curved line penciling lost one sees the specimen is judged 

leniently) 3^ 

Breast and Body. — The light color is more buff or even drab 

than rich golden bay. It fails in the penciling also; large 

spots void of it, the body being void of penciling on thighs. . 2 j^ 

Wings. — The bows are minutely penciled a brown surface, with 

pepper sprinkled over; no curved lines in it. The primaries 

void of the bay edge 2^ 

Tail. — Black, the upper feathers a dark brown, penciled so 
densely as to give a leaden-black look. Tailfanned out like a 

Brahma 2 

Fluff. — Dark brown, having no rich brown shading i 

Legs. — Long and thinly feathered ; middle toes bare 2^ 

Total points out 20 

The bird scoring 80 

Close scrutiny, tells on the exquisite pencilings. If 
birds fail in sections that are valued at ten points the 
defect has a greater value. We have known of a 
breeder taking a pen he called fair breeders to an ex- 
hibition to sell. By an error they were scored and 
valued at seventy-nine to eighty-three points. They 



300 POULTRY CULTURE. 

were sold at $3 each, when before the score was made 
$5 each was refused. Yet a Dark Brahma, Wyandotte, 
Partridge-Cochin, or Penciled Hamburg pullet that 
scores from eighty-five to ninety are as strictly first- 
class as a Light Brahma, Black Red Game, Plymouth 
Rock and White Leghorn that score ninety to ninety- 
three and a half — and the number in one hundred 
raised as many ; yet we see them once in a while, the 
former, that score ninety-three to ninety-five points. 

WHITE COCHINS. 

A few general remarks may not come amiss in speak- 
ing of this breed under the head of judging. "An egg 
is an egg." We hear one say a Cochin's is a Cochin's, 
and should all be of one Cochin form. Yet we know 
that there is not a single variety but the Buff that so 
many in one hundred conform to the recognized Cochin 
shape, and that the Partridge is the largest and heaviest 
of all the Cochins. The weight of the Standard de- 
manded to enable them to compete is too heavy, and 
in all the varieties the weights for pullets are too large, 
and for hens in the White Cochin breed also. We have 
only four points leeway between perfect weight and 
the weight which disqualifies. Wherein is the consist- 
ency that debars a young chick that is growing at four 
points under perfect weight ? It is simply a question 
of permission to compete, and an arbitrary measure in 
favor of a poorer, larger specimen, for it gives the 
prize to the poorer bird by preventing a better one 
from competing. A pullet of five pounds pays five 
points for the privilege to compete with one of seven 
and a-half pounds. The one of lesser weight has to 




PARTRIDGE-COCHIN PULLET. 



301 



JUDGING, 303 

make up in points of merit more than the difference 
in weight to win the prize. Then one sees at once the 
blunder of setting disquahfying weights too high. 
This cause alone cuts down the exhibits in White 
Cochins at least fully fifty per cent in all our exhibi- 
tions, and in consequence we see the prizes won by far 
less beautiful specimens ; and so true is this that three- 
fourths of the prizes go to birds of other than Cochin 
shape, the birds that reach the weights being invariably 
of a Brahma type, indicative of the crosses resorted to 
to attain the size necessary to wiji. Allow birds to 
compete at five pounds for pullets, six pounds for hens, 
six and a-half pounds for cockerels and eight and a-half 
pounds for cocks, and the numbers would increase 
threefold, the societies be that much richer in entry 
money, and the quality of the specimens increased — 
competition being so much sharper, greater attention 
would be paid to them. 

We build poultry by' the pound, and the cost will 
be found not to deviate much per pound, no matter 
what the breed. Then, as a show bird, all those quali- 
ties which make a specimen beautiful and a show 
attractive should be fostered. We care not how large 
a specimen be, if all out of feather and ungainly in 
form none stop to admire him, and only when so ugly 
and ill-shaped as to excite ridicule will he attract in 
comparison to birds of nice proportions and beautiful 
plumage. In all judging the specimen stands or falls 
upon the perfection of its parts, each by themselves 
considered, and we say of the White Cochins, that 
we have seen them as beautiful as we represent 
them in the cut, for we have seen absolutely per- 



304 POULTRY CULTURE. 

feet section ; therefore, we are enabled to give you a 
perfect picture of each and every section, and to show 
you how a perfect bird will look having all these per- 
fect sections harmoniously joined together — and only 
so joined and possessed do they get a full score for 
symmetry, and we say in judging 

Symmetry. — If the neck be carried back over the 
breast it mars Cochin shape, and we cut a point. If the 
back has a concave circular sweep from back to tail, we 
cut a point, for it has a Brahma shape back, not a Cochin 
shape, for that should be convexed in its contour. If 
the fluff is short, being slender of stern, then we cut a 
point, for form is faulty, because the fluff does not 
stand out about the rear and thighs and give that heavy, 
broad appearance conceded essential to Cochin sym- 
metry. A full, broad breast is demanded if the lines 
be nearly straight from throat to thighs. It certainly 
injures symmetry a point. 

Condition. — If a pure white breed come into a 
show pen all begrimed with dirt, and plumage broken, 
it should certainly suffer two points, even if there be 
no apparent symptoms of ill-health. If legs be scabby, 
rough and unsightly, a cut of one to three points is 
none too much. If one eye be closed by the first stages 
of roup, one point ; if an eye be gone, two points. 

Weight. — A specimen weighing but seven and one- 
half pounds, when nine and one-half pounds is perfect, 
the specimen loses four points for failing in two pounds 
of flesh. 

Head. — There is no question but a clear bay eye is 
the best, but as we often witness a pale eye and a 
yellowish bay, the Standard makes us hesitate to make 




305 



JUDGING. 307 

a distinction, yet no one but would give five dollars 
more for a bright bay eye in a bird scoring ninety-three 
or more points, the expression to face is so much bet- 
ter. In beholding a specimen a seeming want of some- 
thing to make the head harmonize with neck will be 
found in this different color of eye — the expression it 
imparts. So much is this noticeable that a judge, while 
not allowed to cut, will not hesitate to give such a 
specimen the preference on an equal score. If the 
head be narrow, having a pinched look, we cut one 
point; if beak be not well arched and skull not well 
over eye, one point. 

Comb. — If very large, one-half to two points; if 
turning from a straight line on the head, one-half to 
one and one-half; one point for each side sprig or 
indication of its removal ; if less than five serrations, 
one point ; if unevenly serrated, from one-half to two 
points ; if rolling over to the side from the top, dis- 
qualify. 

Wattles and Ear-lobes. — If wattles be short, one 
to two points ; if one be shorter than the other, one 
point ; a prominent wattle is indicative of procreative 
vigor. This is the reason of severe cutting for defect 
named. White ear-lobes one point. 

Neck. — If neck be not carried forward and making 
a nice curve from one-third, the way from head to back, 
cut a point. If the plumage be shaded with yellow, 
then cut from one to three points as this evil appears, 
the latter when so deep as to shade the quills of the 
plumage ; one to two points for twisted condition of 
the feathers. 

Back. — Wide at base of hackle and having a gentle 



308 POULTRY CULTURE. 

rise of saddle to tail ; this recognized failure to take the 
full convexed sweep, as seen in the Buff variety, causes 
the judge to cut lighter for a flat saddle than he 
would in the Buff or Partridge cocks. We say if scant 
in saddle, one point ; if back be oval from wing to wing, 
one point ; if rouched back, two and one-half points ; 
if back be shaded with lemon color, one to two points. 

Breast AND Body. — If flat in front, one point; if 
wedge shape, viewed from in front, one point ; if plum- 
age be tinged with yellow or straw color, one-half to 
two points, as in degree. Body if not deep, one point ; 
if plumage be shaded, one to one and one-half. 

Wings. — Large wings, one point ; primaries show- 
ing below secondaries, one to two points ; yellow tinge 
in wing-bows, one to two points ; yellow quills in second- 
aries or primaries, one half to two and one-half points. 

Tail. — Sickles showing prominently, one point ; if 
they be long and stiff, two points; tail cutting through 
saddle, one to one and one-half points ; if squir- 
rel tailed, two points ; if yellow quills show in tail 
proper, one and one-half points ; lemon shadings in 
tail coverts, one point. 

Fluff. — If scant, one point ; if so short as to show 
thighs clean cut, two points is none too much. 

Legs. — If plumage of thighs be webbed out, to 
give profile to thigh, one point ; if long in second joint, 
one point ; if middle toes be bare, one point ; if shanks . 
be sparsely feathered, one to two points; if legs be 
spotted with green or black, from one to two points; 
if toes be crooked cut one point for each toe affected. 

The above would be our treatment of a White 
Cochin cock in the show pen. 




LANGSHANS. 



309 



JUDGING. 311 

The Hen. — For all faults of form and defects of 
comb, ear-lobes and wattles, the same rules will apply- 
as in Buffs. 

The cuts for color would be for the yellow along the 
quills of the plumage, and as a rule they affect the neck 
one-half to one point, back one to one and one-half 
points, tail seldom but one point ; breast and body 
seldom more than one point in color; wings saffrony, 
from one to one and one-half points for color. This 
yellow tinge seldom visits the females more than one- 
half that it does the male. Why the sun does not 
have the same effect upon the hen it does upon the 
male, we cannot account for on any other basis than 
that the continual laying through the season prevents 
the fat feeding the plumage and thus helping the sun 
in its burning effect upon the same. 

LANGSHANS. 

Up to this writing no breed has been more unsatis- 
factorily judged than this. The breed came into the 
Standard under much opposition, and a demand that 
they be required to be bred to a type as distinct from 
Black Cochins as possible for two black breeds to be. 
It matters not which of the two breeds, Black Cochin 
or Langshans, derived their best characteristics from 
the other. To say a Langshan is perfect in form they 
must have a more than medium-sized comb standing 
erect and evenly serrated, with no side sprigs ; a head 
short and broad, black eyes, and a neck long in com- 
parison to a Cochin's, with a long flowing metallic black 
hackle, which has to be lifted to disclose a flat back 
at that point. Saddle must be one starting at or near 



312 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the hackle, running in an inclined plane high up on the 
tail, the tail being large and long, with long, flowing 
sickle and numerous lesser sickles ; breast fairly devel- 
oped ; sides well-rounded, with moderately developed 
fluff; legs long as compared to Cochins, the shanks 
and outer toes fairly feathered. Such is a pen-picture 
of a male entitled to a full score for symmetry. 

In contradistinction to this, we scored, not long 
since, a cock as a 

LANGSHAN : 

Symmetry. — He was short in neck, tail and legs, with perfect 

Cochin back 2 

Condition. — Health and plumage all right o 

Weight. — Weighed 9 lbs, should weigh 10 lbs 2 

Head. — Beak not as blue-black as desirable, eyes light colored. . iJS^ 

Ear-lobes AND Wattles. — Red, fine-textured; all right o 

Neck. — Short ; plumage short and dull black 2 

Back. — Brahma-shape, had scant saddle for a Langshan; green- 
ish-black luster 2Y2, 

Breast and Body. — Breast well developed; plumage had lost 

the metallic luster 2 

Wings. — Had the blue light spots in web, a color hard to say was 

black; metallic luster wanting, and withal quite small 3 

Tail. — A nice rolling Cochin tail, small and wanting in sickles. . . i^ 

Fluff. — Rusty black i 

Legs. — Feathered profusely, middle toes partially feathered, 
shanks and toes in color good iJS^ 

Total points out 19 

The bird scoring 81 

This bird had a white skin, no white in plumage. 
There is no clause in disqualification to bar such from 
competing. Compare the Standard to score and see if 
judgment is not a fair one. Now give this same bird a 



JUDGING. 313 

yellow skin and a yellow bottom to his foot, and take 
the same description I have given here and compare 
with a Black Cochin Standard and see if the following 
would not become a fair, honest score for him : 

Symmetry o 

Condition o 

Weight. — Weighs but 9 lbs 4 

Head yi 

Back 2>^ 

Breast and Body 2 

Tail o 

Fluff i 

Legs X 

Total points out 10^ 

The bird scoring 89^ 

Do these two scores demonstrate a difference in the 
breeds beyond the mere skin and color of feet? There 
is not the slightest doubt the above cock was bred from 
a Cochin flock that had had Langshan crosses upon it. 
In the same exhibition a case just the opposite, in the 
shape of a female entered as a 

BLACK COCHIN PULLET: 

Symmetry. — Head was small, neck long, with full, flowing hackle, 
high, straight cushion, the two top tail feathers quite curved 

and long i^ 

Weight. — Being b% lbs i 

Condition. — No fault to find o 

Head. — Small, dark brownish black i 

Comb. — A fine small comb on serrate, a bit curled (x) o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — No fault for either breed o 

Neck. — Long plumage, full, but not quite black enough ^2 

Back. — Short cushion, high and straight i 

Breast and Body. — Not round and full, wedge-shape, color good xyz 



,'U4 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Wings. — Good shape, bright black o 

Tail. — Long, spread at base, too wide for a Cochin x}^ 

Fluff. — Full and nice black color o 

Legs AND Toes. — Shanks long, scantily feathered, outer toes hardly 
covered 2% 

Total points out 10^ 

The bird scoring 89 j-^ 

This female has every indication o.f being Lang- 
shan bred. Let us make her white in skin and pink in 
feet, and apply the Standard for Langshan, cutting for 
the defects as the description of each of the above sec- 
tions seem justly to warrant, and see if they will vary 
much from the following: 

Symmetry o 

Weight. — Being 6%. tt>s o 

Condition o 

Head. — Color bad i 

Comb, etc o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Neck j4. 

Back o 

Breast and Body 1 1^ 

Wings o 

Tail o 

Fluff o 

Legs i]4. 

Total points out ... 4^-^ 

The bird scoring ........ 95 ^ 

making a Langshan five points better than she was 
as a Cochin. Does this scoring disclose to you the dif- 
ference in the breeds? If not, our labor is lost. Lang- 
shans must be cut if in saddle they are like a Cochin, 



JUDGING. 315 

oval in their sweep to tail, or if, like a Brahma, they are 
concave in their contour ; for each they should be cut 
one point. If void of long, flowing sickles and side- 
hangers, they must suffer from one to two and one-half 
points as in degree they approach a perfect-rolled 
Cochin tail. If legs be wanting in the violet-pink 
between scales and bottom of feet, they must be pun- 
ished from one to two points. If middle toe be par- 
tially feathered, one to two points, as in degree it shall 
reach a perfect-feathered Cochin foot and feathering, 
when the specimens become disqualified as being well- 
feathered on middle toe. See balance of disqualifica- 
tion in Standard. A single white feather in either foot 
does not disqualify; if three or more are found, they 
under present ruling will be barred from competition. 

BLACK FOWLS. 

In judging black fowls, let the breed be what it 
may, to do it with strict justice one must have a nice 
discrimination for color and the shades in the same 
color. It is not only necessary that the birds be black, 
but that in Cochins, Langshans, Black Hamburgs, 
Bantams and Polish that the black be a metallic black. 
Note the difference between a common dead black and 
that disclosed by breaking a piece of hard coal. The 
judge who scores two birds in a shaded coop, not tak- 
ing them out to get the effect of the light upon them, 
does a great injustice to other competitors ; for to 
shade a Standard colored Langshan robs him of half 
his beauty, while to shade a dead black fowl adds fifty 
per cent to the density of her color — and a fine colored 
cock and poor hen in the shade be made to match well 



316 POULTRY CULTURE. 

as to color in the show pen, When we see judges 
taking some birds out of the pen and leaving others in, 
in doing their work, we are apt to feel that they are 
tired, careless ox tricky ; we leave circumstances to de- 
termine which. 

In white fowls, also, the trouble is in the straw- 
color appearing in surface color, yellow quills in 
plumage. The light discloses these defects, while a 
shaded coop hides a multitude of defects. The bright 
dark, brilliant colored birds are made all the more 
beautiful by a strong light, and the white or nearly 
white and black by the influence of a subdued light 
and a blue canopy, the best upper-light for all. It is, 
therefore, the best plan in arranging an exhibition, 
both as to treating each exhibitor the best you can 
and to make the exhibition the most attractive 
possible, is to keep this rule in mind, and to place all 
brilliant colored birds in the lightest part of the hall 
and the white ones in the darkest ; but in judging let 
all be carried to some room where all have the same 
light. But we digress. White birds are cut in color 
as yellow shades mar the pure white required in the 
plumage. In all living shades of white, oil and white- 
lead paint is a good Standard, cutting for shading as 
white till it becomes yellow, when the plumage 
becomes foreign to the breed. The exception to this 
is when plumage becomes burned by the sun and 
weather. This can be determined by lifting the 
plumage and seeing what it is where it has not been 
exposed, and to see if the quills are yellow also. If 
the quill be yellow where not exposed we must con- 
sider that the sun is not the whole cause of the foreign 



JUDGING. 317 

color. In White Leghorns we find it necessary to cut 
from one to three points as this evil appears in back 
and wings ; in tail not often a cut beyond one point is 
found necessary. These few remarks will make it un- 
necessary to take up individually the white breeds, and 
we shall consider the colored varieties of the same 
races. Thus will those defects affecting form be dis- 
posed of. 

BLACK BREASTED RED GAMES. 

I can give you no better pen-picture of true sym- 
metry and beauty in a male than already given you in 
the Royal Mating No. i. Our exhibitions disclose 
less difference in the score of Black Reds than any 
other breed ; yet there are many vexing questions that 
come up to make the position of judge a trying one. 
Oftentimes two sections in a bird make a wonderful 
difference in personal appearance. We judged two 
Black Reds recently, to wit : 

BLACK RED GAME PULLETS. 

No. r. 

Symmetry and Station. — Shanks long and turned in at knees; 

her neck cranish in its arch 2^ 

Condition o 

Color. — Wings had the brickish red, back showed no shaft, was 

tinged with reddish brown 3 

Head. — Long, snaky o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Eyes. — Dove color i 

Neck. — Long, but carried bent like a crane i 

Back. — Oval, fell off at tail i 

Wings. — Did not tuck them closely JS^ 



318 POUT-TRY CULTURE. 

Tail. — Pointed, but carried too high ^ 

Legs. — Bent in too much at knees i 

Feet. — Toes not straight. i 

Total points out ii}4 

The bird scoring , SS}4 

No. 2. 

Symmetry and Station — Was low in station, had short neck, 

shanks and thighs 3 

Condition o 

Color, — Ashen gray back, nice in shafts and penciling, breast 

pale salmon shown in flights 2 

Head. — Short, round i 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Eyes. — Bright red o 

Neck. — Short plumage reaches bej'ond shoulder points i 

Back. — Straight as a board o 

Wings — Well tucked o 

Tail. — Too wide spread i 

Legs. — Too short shanks 1 1^ 

Feet. — Prime o 

Total points out g)^ 

The bird scoring 90^ 

NoAv had the long-legged, high-stationed bird won, 
there would not have been a word said. The breeders 
of Standard Games would no more have put the short- 
necked, short-legged hen in their breeding pens than 
they would have thought of flying, while the pit men 
would not have given one cent for the knock-kneed, 
crane-legged, small-bodied pullet that had been imported 
at a large expense. Yet these very men, when asked 
if the cut for coIqj" was a just one, acknowledged that 
it was ; when asked if I had cut the defect found in 



JUDGING. 319 

legs too much, answered no ; and when I said sym- 
metry in the one bird was as defective as in the others, 
only from different causes, then you had the war with 
the breeders' opinions, each of which was fashioned 
after the end he had in view for his birds. 

Symmetry and station mean more than long legs. 
A cock to stand in perfect symmetry must have his 
eye over his foot just along the shank. The female, 
because of her heavier portions, will carry her head 
just a trifle forward of that point. The backs of both 
must run straight as a line and on an inclined plane 
from neck to tail. The short hen did this, while the 
tall, rangy one carried hers horizontally, and it was arch- 
ing in its contour. Her neck, while long enough, was 
jerked up into a crook more than an arch, the short 
one being alike cut for its being one inch shorter than 
the other. The judge must defend the rights of exhib- 
itors even at a loss of reputation, and it is just these 
cases when the judge can do injustice and save cen- 
sure that take the courage to do right for right's sake 
and take the censure that always follows. 

A short-legged, short-necked and wide-tailed pullet 
may stand in perfect Game poise, her cut being one of 
station alone, while another that failed to poise in a 
Game position gets the cut for symmetry, and if these 
long shapely legs turn in at the hock and show weak- 
ness as well as awkwardness, the latter must be cut 
under symmetry and station, and the former in section 
of legs. It is a pleasure to look at a bird that scores 
high, like this well trimmed, symmetrical 



320 POULTRY CULTURE. 

BLACK RED GAME COCK. 

Symmetry and Station. — Head exactly over the feet, the whole 
carriage upright ; full round breast; thigh and shank, in line 
from in front; tailatangleof 45 degrees, coming close together, 
with sickles extending 5 inches beyond tail proper ; hackle 

long, but strong, without a crane look to the specimen o 

Condition. — Perfect health, not a feather broken o 

Color. — See Standard, except that he has no bay edge to pri- 
maries, and a red line runs up the sickle shafts i^ 

Head. — Long, tapering, smooth o 

Comb, etc. — All trim, smooth, no wrinkles or folds o 

Eyes. — Fire red o 

Back. — As straight as a board o 

Breast and Body. — A little hollow at throat ; color good i 

Wings. — He let the lower edge of flights fall one-half the width 

of lower feather. ^ 

Tail. — Perfect in carriage, being 45 degrees in its slant from 

body, very closely folded, and long o 

Legs. — Trim, long, not stilty, olive color o 

Feet. — Had long toes, perfectly straight, and all four came down 

flat on the ground o 

Hardness of feather is ignored in judging. — — >■ 

Total points out 3 

The bird scoring 97 

In this there is nothing to despoil symmetry in any 
way. Taking a profile view of the bird, the dent in front 
of breast did not affect his outline, and he escaped, yet 
we cut a trifle harder in breast and body, and on the 
whole we have the best Black Red Game cock we ever 
scored. By applying the test of the Standard the reader 
will see the adaptability of the score symmetry and 
station, and symmetry in all other breeds puzzles the 
novice. In scoring, when you commence leave this 
section out and score those sections that are described 
in the Standard, and when you are through with your 



JUDGING. 331 

specimen see if you have cut any section for the shape 
of it. If so, when and how much,' then fix in your 
mind a bird as different'from the one you are scoring 
as a Standard one would make him, and you will get 
both an idea of what perfect symmetry is and how 
much the one you are scoring should be cut. For 
symmetry is perfect when all the sections are per- 
fect shape and carriage is that described in the 
Standard. The Black Red Game is the best study for 
symmetry we have in the whole fowl race. 
BROWN RED GAMES. 
In symmetry and station they should be the same 
as Black Reds, the differences .being in color of plum- 
age and eye only, our lesson being in color as we 
score the specimens. One sees more poor colored 
specimens in this variety than in any other, for the 
reason that Ginger Reds have been discarded and they 
try to force them into this class. At a little distance 
a very faulty bird may look very well, and many for 
this reason find their way to the exhibition room. We 
have in mind now two birds pointed out at a distance 
of four rods off, with the remark that they were twins. 
See their score : 

COCKEREL NO. I. 

Symmetry and Station. — Legs fairly long, set on well; tail too 

large and wide-spread ; head carried slightly forward 2 

Condition. — All right o 

Color. — Was orange-red with black stripe in hackle ; breast 
black, with plumage at throat black, edged with red, with a 
yellowish-red shaft to feather ; saddle matched hackle ex- 
actly ; back and wing-bows dark crimson red ; balance all 

right, with black tail o 

Head. — Short and black, too much oval shape i 

Comb, etc. — Was well trimmed. ... o 



322 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Eyes. — Dark brown o 

Neck. — Long, close hackle o 

Back. — Was oval in line from neck to tail i 

Breast and Body. — Not full nor broad enough at shoulders. .... ij!^ 

Wings. — All right, smoothly tucked o 

Legs. — Prime in color (olive), smooth in scales o 

Feet. — Toes not flat on the ground ; were short also i^ 

Total points out 7 

The bird scoring 93 

" A daisy," the owner exclaimed. "And much better 
than the other," we remarked. " Not much," the 
breeder again put in. The Standard made the follow- 
incf work of the so-called twin : 

Symmetry and Station. — Eye exactly over foot; short in shank 
and neck ; symmetry being all right, but station oif i^ 

Condition (x) o 

Color. — Head not dark red ; the black in hackle penciled with 
a yellowish brown ; back light red, 'also wing-bows ; saddle 
failed in the black stripe, being penciled with yellowish red ; 
shafts too near same color of feather in the breast, the 
centers being reddish brown, not black ; reddish brown along 

side of body, the black not metallic in shadings 4^^ 

(Owner's lip drops.) 

Head. — Short, like the other 

Comb, etc. — Not trimmed smooth, bunchy about ear-lobes 

Eyes. — Red, should be dark brown , 

Neck. — Short, hackle too long 

Back. — Straight o 

Breast and Body. — All right to appearance, but bone is crooked,. 

Wings. — Carried lower ; primaries in sight 

Tail 

Legs. — Had a sprain, bunch just below knee joint (x) 

Feet. — Had bad toes on right foot, inner one turned in 

Total points out 14^ 

The bird scoring 85^ 



JUDGING. 323 

Just came inside of first-class breeding stock. 

" The d 1!" exclaims Mr. . "Who would 

have thought there was such a difference ? Surely 
' distance lent enchantment ' to that view. I think 
those are the best ones — that exhibitors talk about 
leaving at home, eh? " Bronzy red may look black at a 
distance, so also a coal-black stripe, and one of duller 
shade, penciled slightly, a few rods off show no suscep- 
tible difference, but under the Standard and close in- 
spection all defects come to light. 

BROWN RED GAME PULLETS AND HENS 

often disappoint in a like manner. See the difference 
in the following : 

Symmetry and Station. — Neck short, legs short also, tail wide 
and full, carried head forward, does not get it up over the 

foot when standing erect 3 

Condition. — Generally all right, no sick birds as a rule go to shows, o 
Color. — Black as a coal all over, neck hackle laced with golden 

yellow, no brown tinge in any part 2 

Head. — Long and snaky o 

Comb, etc. — White in ear-lobes and a comb that lopped I 

Eyes. — Black o 

Neck. — Too short i 

Back. — Straight as a board o 

Breast and Body. — Breast bone crooked i 

Wings. — Drops the lower primary; feather in sight i 

Tail. — Too broad i 

Legs. — Short i 

Feet. — Square on the ground o 

Total points out 11 

The bird scoring 8g 

Her competitor: 



324 POULTRY CULTURE, 

Symmetry and Station. — Neck long, nice in the arch of the 
same, legs in length and harmony with neck, head carried 

over foot, tail carried close together o 

Condition. — All right o 

Color. — Neck black, laced with gold; back shaded with golden 

brown; breast shaded with brown, in all else black o 

Head. — A bit short y^ 

Comb and Wattles. — Comb straight and evenly serrated, ear- 
lobes red o 

Eyes. — Black o 

Neck. — Long and graceful o 

Back. — Straight, flat and tapering o 

Breast and Body. — Round and full at sides, the whole hard as a 

rock , o 

Wings. — Carried too low, show primaries below secondaries i^ 

Tail. — Carried right and close together .' o 

Legs. — Position good, scales perfect. .,. o 

Feet. — 

Alas! Our work has been done for nothing. She 
carries her fourth toe alongside the inner ones, and is a 
duck-footed specimen. DisquaHfied, reduced all to 
nothing, and our expectations cast to the ground ; our 
97 or 98 point bird is worthless as an exhibition speci- 
men ; the sweepstakes prize goes to our competitor. 
But let the lesson teach you to examine each and every 
section to see that no disqualifications exist to disap- 
point you. Score cards for each breed cost but little, 
and on them are printed the disqualifications. 

DUCKWING GAMES. 

A novice would hardly be able to say what was a 
Yellow Duckwing pullet in contradistinction to a 
Silver Duckwing, the greater difference being in the 
males — there being no disqualifications that will pre- 
vent a breeder's showing the females in both classes. 



JUDGING. 3'25 

We had at a recent exhibition presented to us a stag 
which had been scored ninety-five and one-half points ; 
but we found him, as we apply the Standard, a 

COCKEREL : 

Symmetry and Station. — Short in neck, thighs and shank, with 
a hackle that covered the shoulder points, with tail carried 
high and wide-spread, for which we cut, as their effects upon 

symmetry 3 

Condition. — Being in perfect health o 

Color. — Head was a deep straw-color, hackle the same, blotched 
with copper-color, saddle like hackle, body splashed with 
yellow and white along the side, copper and white in the 

curling feather under tail 4 

Head. — Was short and chubby (x) i 

Comb, etc. — Well and smoothly dubbed o 

Eyes. — The best eye is a bay one, but brownish-red is admissi- 
ble — was the latter o 

Neck. — Hackle was long and flowing ; shoulder points were 

covered i 

Back. — Was straight but was narrow at shoulders ^ 

Breast and Body. — Was full in breast, round at side, breast- 
bone was straight, stern a nice upper curve to tail o 

Wings. — Set out from breast, closely folded points hid in saddle 

feathers — Standard o 

Tail. — Was wide-spread and carried above a moderate elevation 1% 
Legs. — Were too short, had knee bunches inside, just below 

hock ij4. 

Feet. — Set square on the ground, with hind toe straight to rear, o 

Total points out 12)^ 

The bird scoring 87^ 

Yet there was all this difference between our score 
and the judge who scored the bird one week before. 
I asked, Did the judge take the bird from his coop ? 
Then he did not cut the specimen but two in color, 



326 POULTRY CULTURE. 

did he? This we found to be the fact, and that was all 
the defect of color visible till his wings were lifted and 
his tail turned back. Legs were not cut, yet the bunches 
were in sight. Symmetry and station were cut but one 
point, back and tail allowed to go uncut, remarking 
that Duckwings had not the symmetry seen in Black 
Reds, yet the Standard describes both alike in form and 
the judge can know no other laM^ A specimen shown 
as a Golden Duckwing pullet we found to be in 

Symmetry and Station. — Short neck, long, full hackle, tail wide- 
spread, legs short 3 

Condition o 

Color. — Head silver gray ; neck, the black each side of shaft pen- 
ciled with gray ; back, ash color, penciled with stone color, 
giving it the color called ashen gray, the shaft showing 
silver color ; wing-bows like back, no reddish shading on them ; 

flights and tail as described in Standard for Silver Duckwings. . 3 

Head. — Long and snaky o 

Comb, Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Had while in ear-lobe i 

Eyes. — Red o 

Neck. — Too short ; hackle covered shoulder points i 

Back. — Straight and fiat-iron shape o 

Breast and Body. — Full, broad and round ; nice turn to lower 

line of body and stern o 

Wings. — Folded closely o 

Tail. — Carried wide-spread and high i 

Legs. — Shanks short i 

Feet. — Rear toe turned inward i 

Total points out 11 

The bird scoring 89 

This specimen lost two points in competing in a 
Golden Duckwing class, when as a Silver Duckwing 
she would save the two points for color, a Golden 
Duckwing demanding a dark gray head, dark salmon 



^ JUDGING. 337 

color in breast, and a reddish shading to wing-bows. 
A novice does not discriminate between the two. 
Color in .Games becomes a section of itself, and has but 
twelve pdints, while in other breeds the value varies 
from nineteen to twenty-seven points, having twice 
the average value ; thirty-three per cent cut in one being 
four points, and nine points in the other. Score a 
specimen in your own yard, a Golden Duckwing cock- 




BLACK-BREASTED RED GAME-BANTAMS. 

erel, and then go over him again, applying the Silver 
Duckwing standard, computing your cuts on the per- 
centage plan, and see what change it will be necessary 
to make in color. These object-lessons of comparison 
we think quite as useful as an essay confined to the 
one variety. 

GAME BANTAMS 

are scored by the Game standard only in weight. It 
will be seen by actual measurement that a Bantam 



328 POULTRY CULTURE. 

with the same length of leg, neck and tail in propor- 
tion to his weight will not look so high and so gamey, 
so to speak. The judge, therefore, will look, to the 
uninformed, as cutting hard for defects in legs and sta- 
tion. If he goes so far as to be thought cutting 
severely by the novice he can be very sure that he is in 
error. These little pets are generally purer in their 
shades of color, and generally score very high. Sweep- 
stakes prizes for highest scoring birds of an exhibition 
find their way to Black Red-Game Bantam pens often. 
We can give no new idea of scoring Bantams over that 
of the larger Games. 

SILVER-SPANGLED HAMBURGS. 

In this variety, when the defects occur in comb, ear- 
lobes and wattles, breast and body, wings or tail, the 
specimens are apt to score low down, for the reason 
that an out in them is valued at 50 to 100 per cent 
more than in other sections. They as a breed score 
lower in comparison to their general appearance in the 
yard than do most other breeds, to wit: 

A COCKEREL. 

Symmetry and Station. — Head small ; comb slightly canted over 
neck ; graceful, full flowing hackle, with a nice long saddle 
plumage ; tail long ; sickle large and long ; legs medium, and 

carriage upright o 

Condition. — Had comb lacerated by fighting i 

Head. — Short, small ; eyes dark o 

Comb. — Canted tc^one side, but firm in position, was wide across 

center, having a circular sweep, not a nice taper, to spike. . . 4 
Ear-lobes. — One-third surface red in color, and too long and 

pendulous 3^ 

Wattles. — All right o 



JUDGING. 329 

Neck. — All right in color, but about one-third the feathers had 
black tips, or spangles; fully 33 per cent of the color gone. . . i 

Back. — All right in shape, but with saddle void of the 
spangle ; about one-fourth of the feathers being black at tips, 2 

Breast and Body. — Breast had white lacings to the black 
moons ; the body was spangled with dull black ; had a 
crooked breast-bone 3 

Wings. — Were good in bow and fine in secondaries, black 
spangles, dull black coverts, had crescent tips, making the 
bars narrow. Primaries had no spangles 3 

Tail. — Tail proper was very dark gray ; sickles had gray lower 
webs, tip of same black ; spaugle of coverts crescent shape. . 2^ 

Legs. — Thighs streaked with gray ; had two crooked toes i^ 

Total points out 21^ 

The bird scoring 78^ 

Apply the Standard here and see if I have not been 
as lenient as judgment will permit ; yet such a bird at a 
distance usually seen on the walk would certainly be 
called a fine appearing one, and we must consider 85 to 
88 points of as much value in this breed as 90 to 93 
in Brahmas. As a Standard of quality, by noting the 
score it will be seen that faulty as he was in form, that 
affected his general symmetry, he was not cut, and the 
profile pleasing, and one hardly willing to concede the 
score correct, but we cannot alter it. 

In scoring a hen we take one of the Golden variety. 

GOLDEN-SPANGLED HAMBURG. 

A very prevalent defect in color of this breed is a 
round white or gray spot in the black spangle along 
the under line of body plumage and white in the 
undercolor. It was once our lot in the old Standard 
ruling to disqualify fifteen out of a class of seventeen 



330 POULTRY CULTURE. 

for this defect. The present Standard does not dis- 
quahfy, but the defect is a grave one. Combs are more 
faulty, as a rule, than in the penciled varieties. Gen- 
eral observation is not a safe guide in selecting speci- 
mens for exhibition. Nothing but a close inspection 
will save us from disappointment. We have seen a 
very prepossessing specimen result in the following 
score by the Standard : 

THE HEN. 

Symmetry. — Neck gracefully arched, back had a graceful curve 
to tail, carried tail at a moderate elevation, breast full and 
round, making a nice picture o 

Condition. — Health and plumage unbroken o 

Head. — Golden bay, but had white dots in the black ; beak light 
color, eye pearl, face too blue under eye 2^ 

Comb. — Large and shaky ; was a doubt as to calling it dis- 
qualified 3 

Wattles o 

Neck. — Hackle had the golden lacing smoked up the outside 
edge , I 

Back. — Back all right, except at the very tip of the black 
spangles white marks the size of No 8 shot ly^ 

Breast and Body.' — Breast full, and no real fault with spangles, 
except being dull in the black shading ; body spotted the 
whole length of the under part with white spangles in the 
larger black ones ; breast-bone crooked 2^ 

Wings. — Showed shiny bluish-gray spots in inner web of both 
primaries and secondaries 2 

Tail. — These light spots in the tail proper ; a loss of the 
metallic luster, tip dull black 2 

Legs and Toes. — Shanks flesh color, rough in scales near 
juncture with foot i ^ 

Total points out 16 

The bird scoring 84 



JUDGING. 331 

Here again we find to follow Standard description 
we are compelled to score out the above points, but it 
is a very low score, and drops our seemingly nice speci- 
men below the minimum of the Standard value of 
first-class. We think such birds, though they are often 
used as breeders, should be sent to the scrub pens, for 
it is hard work to restore such, color. The use of the 
Black Hamburg, and to breed back the female get, is the 
only way to utilize them if necessity compels their use. 

BROWN LEGHORN. 

Corrugated combs, tainted ear-lobes, crooked breast- 
bones and too dark color in females, the greatest evils 
and hindrance to high scoring. More birds are dis- 
qualified for wry tail and twisted combs than any other 
cause, and the question how far can the comb be cor- 
rugated and escape the penalty of " disqualified " /(3r 
twist in the comb or loped comb. A male's score to 
demonstrate : 

Symmetry. — Comb is very large, back part swings round from 
center of back of neck ; carries head a little forward from 
effect of large, heavy comb ; tail keeps shifting from one to 
the other side, and cuts through saddle, being carried too 

erect, next door to squirrel tail 2% 

Size. — Of medium size o 

Condition. — Plumage looks dull, carriage indicates low vitality. . i^ 
Head. — Dark red, short, deep; beak has a pale stripe, eyes are 
a pearl, face yellowish red, under eye indications of coming 

white 2 

Comb. — Is large, being very high in front ; sides are raised in 
ridges and folds, but edge maintains its straight line down 
to beak, from back of skull it turned off to the side, yet 
stands erect in front; this is a bad comb, having 7 serrations, 
and we sum up the defects, 2 for the folds, i^ for size, 
xYz for turning off to the side 5 



332 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — In this case were pendulous, pure 
white, but streaks of red through it 2 

Neck. — -Fair length, surface color as described in Standard, 
but come to lift the hackle, we find almost an inch of white 
(had it exceeded an inch, we should have had to disqualify). 
When a specimen competes on the rule of doubt the judge is 
compelled to cut J^ the section "}% 

Back. — Dark red, saddle good in surface color, under color at 
roots of tail and sickles full ^ inch white i% 

Breast and Body. — Breast full, round, black; body along the 
sides bronzed up with reddish bay; breast bone not quite 
straight (x) x% 

Wings. — Show red in the black bar, also black spots in the bows, 

with sheeny spots in primaries 2 

Tail. — Cuts through saddle and weak in position, changing 
from side to side; color good (x) 2 

Legs and Toes. — Shanks too much smoked up, with two black 
scales I 

Total points out 24}^ 

The bird scoring 75.5^ 

The specimen has scored very low, — seventy-five and 
a-half points. Certainly a breeder Avould be foolish to 
use such a bundle of defects as a sire when the fact is 
before him that he is mating this defective influence to 
his whole get. A defective female would be far less 
injurious, for the male influence is greatest in the re- 
production of type. 

As a rule, this combination of defects seldom meets 
in one specimen, but often nearly as bad — 78, 79 80 and 
81 — are seen in the records of our first-class exhibi- 
tions. Ninety in a hundred pullets of this breed will 
score from 86^ to 94 points, with one to three in a 
hundred reaching 94^ to 96^^. As many as three 
exhibitions in five will show up a pullet to score 95 to 



JUDGING. 333 

96 points. It is safe to say a Brown Leghorn pullet 
that will score full in symmetry, comb and ear-lobes 
will exceed in score 94 points, and we never saw one 
score 96 that was cut in symmetry. 

The following score will not vary one-half point in 
any one of the sections of pullets that score 96. 

Symmetry o 

Weight o 

Condition o 

Head o 

Comb. — Just falls off a bit from being straight in front y^ 

Ear-lobes and Wattles y^ 

Neck. — Is penciled in the back i 

Back o 

Breast and Body. — Pale salmon color >^ 

Wings. — Red in lower part of them i 

Tail. — A rich brown color o 

Legs , o 

A rich brown, penciled with a dull black, gives a 
nice even brown shade to back, and up onto the tail ; a 
rather pale salmon breast, and a bit of red in the wing- 
bows, and pencilings in the stripe of the hackle, gener- 
ally follows this nice color, and 96 points or more are 
never reached without it. What cuts most of these 
down from this high score that have this nice Standard 
color is generally a comb that folds once or twice and 
is cut from i to 2 points ; falling off in the roundness 
of breast and sides, i point ; ear-lobes tainted, from 
}4 to 1)4 points, which, you see, will takeout from i)4 
to 4 more points, and you see them scored all the way 
from 92 to g6y2, but they are all rich brown looking 
birds. 



334 POULTRY CULTURE. 



WHITE LEGHORNS. 

The controversy among the friends of this breed as 
to the shade in color makes it desirable that we give 
our opinion upon the manner in which it is often 
judged. If our manner of presenting it be singular, 
excuse us: we shall be satisfied if the point made be 
strong, and breeders awakened to the taint in color 
that is so 'prevalent that we find many breeders weary 
in the fight of keeping their stock up to a high con- 
dition of excellence, and crying out that the Standard 
be interpreted to favor the breed. In our score we 
present a specimen commonly met with. We propose 
to score him as is often done, without handling beyond 
what can be done through the palings of a show-pen, 
then to examine him critically afterward. 

WHITE LEGHORN COCKEREL. 

Symmetry. — Erert in carriage; comb medium, firm on the head, 

having a fine sweep from front to rear; having five serrations; 

tail carried so upright as to pass the perpendicular line i 

Size. — Good, large bird for the breed o 

Condition. — Quick, healthy ; plumage whole o 

Head. — Short and deep, white; beak yellow, face red, eyes bright 

bay o 

Comb, etc. — Comb in which no faults appear o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Thick and heavy in the enameled, but 

decidedly yellow in color i)^ 

Neck. — Long, surface color white o 

Back. — Good in form but slightly straw-color; saddle still deeper 

shaded with yellow 1)4. 

Breast and Body. — Full and broad; body plump, color not 

quite as white as we would like, but let it go with check. ..(x) o 




WHITE LEGHORN COCK. 



335 



JUDGING. 337 

Wings. — Bows shaded with straw-color, not quite white enough. . ^ 
Tail.- — Magnificent in fullness, but sickles pass the perpendicular 

line I 

Legs and Toes. — Grand in color and smoothness of scale o 

Total points out syi 

The bird scoring 94 j!^ 

And we exclaim, What a grand bird ! Every visitor not 
interested in the competition exclaims he is the best 
bird on exhibition. But Mr. B., who noticed that you 
took his out of the pen to look him over, asked why 
you did not take this one. You were tired and wanted 
to get through, but you go back to see if you have not 
in such a course committed a blunder, and knowing 
that what error you have committed must be one of 
color you take the bird out and lift his hackle off the 
back, and see that a rim half an inch wide around the 
lower edge is decidedly straw color in the light, and you 
say one point out. You lift his back to see the quills 
throughout are quite yellow, or butter color. You 
say he is fat, which will affect it some, but I must cut 
him one-half point. You open his wing, to find to 
your astonishment seven of the quills in primaries and 
secondaries that are dark straw color the whole length, 
and you sigh when you add one and a half points to 
the wing cut. Tail is certainly all right, but we will 
look and find even sickle shafts yellow for three inches 
long, and we cut again one point more and the idol of 
the exhibition falls to ninety and a half points, taking 
the third or fourth prize instead of the sweepstakes. 
This object-lesson is but the experience of judges we 
could name, nor can any of us say we may not fall into 



338 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the same apparent injustice if we fail to take every 
white bird out of the show pen and examine them in 
every section. 

PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 

What is the shade of blue perfect in a Standard 
sense? A question often asked and hard to answer. 
Describe any shade of color you like on paper and send 
five men to a bundle of sticks painted, and it is safe to say 
not more than two in the five will return with the 
right one. Our Standard in describing the color tries 
to do it in one clause. The facts are as represented in 
the living specimen. The back is the darkest both in 
shade and from the fact that in this section the plum- 
age overlaps much more, giving it a still darker blue 
appearance ; and while we have in appearance a bird 
bluish-gray, barred with a darker blue, it is also a fact 
that feathers plucked from the specimen and described 
as a single feather must be described as whitish-gray 
barred with blue black. While there is absolutely no 
shade which is a blue black, yet the light color of the 
feather combined with the dark bars looks darker than 
a navy blue, and the expression is used as preferable to 
black, for we know that it-is not black in prime speci- 
mens. The light bars, when looked at one feather lying 
over others, should look a bright, clear, bluish-gray, and 
the dark bar a very dark blue. These same feathers 
laid on white paper will come very close to a white and 
black ; and the wording of the Standard, from the fact 
of so many feathers being sent in letters to would-be 
customers as giving the best and surest description to 




PLYMOUTH ROCK COCK, 

339 



JUDGING. 341 

prevent disappointment, and ending the description in 
the Standard, "and giving a blue tinge to plumage," 
establishing the fact also that massed in plumage the 
color should indicate blue. We believe the change an 
error of judgment, the good old description, bluish-gray 
barred with a deeper blue, being a far better descrip- 
tion of the birds that please the fancier in these days. 
The greatest faults of color are found in the muddy or 
blurred light colored bars, and dead black darker bars 
instead of dark blue bars. He who cannot readily 
discern between a heavy blue and a black bar surely 
should not be considered a good judge of Plymouth 
Rocks. 

A specimen that has the light bars tinged with a 
muddy look may be so bad as to get a cut of one point 
in all four of the following sections, to wit : neck, back, 
breast and wings and tail ; even this would make five 
points, and then not be cut to the extent of full jus- 
tice, and with this very evil we have seen birds get a 
score of ninety-five points. If the light bars are a full 
deep sky-blue, and the darker bars black, then surely 
we cannot cut less than one and one-half in neck, one 
and one-half in back, two in breast and body, two in 
wing; if the tips fold smoothly, and this muddy molas- 
ses and butter discoloring seen upon the tail cover- 
lets, two more, and in the whole color be punished 
nine points, and it would be a light cut when we con- 
sider that twenty-six points are allowed for color in the 
different sections. Defects in form of back will have 
an influence on the appearance of breast and body, and 
many times we see a bird cut two in back and two 
more in breast and body, when the latter cut is unjust. 



342 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Whenever a bird has a low rump or an oval back, un- 
less the judge has had experience he will in very many- 
cases cut for breast and body in Plymouth Rocks. The 
best illustration of this will be found in the accompany- 
ing cut. 

Assume the cut itself to be perfect in back and 
breast and body ; cut a piece of paper to reach down to 
dotted lines in back so as to hide balance of back above 




them, then see what a difference in the shape ; but by 
the process we know that breast and body is the same, 
the whole fault being in the back. Then it behooves 
a judge to make sure where the real fault lies. In this 
case add only to back that between upper line and 
dotted lines to restore the bird to harmony of propor- 
tion. Symmetry is the only section that should be cut 
for defects found in other parts. One sees how easy 



an 



JUDGING. 343 

ezperienced judge and an amateur would vary all of 
these points in such a specimen. 

PLYMOUTH ROCK COCKEREL. 

Symmetry. — Back drops off near tail, and head carried forward. . ij^ 

Weight. — Weighs 9 pounds o 

Condition. — A few feathers broken o 

Head. — Beak has a thread-line of dark color. ^ 

Comb. — None can say to a hair's breadth what that shape 
shall be if it be an even sweep from back to a flanged 
rear. If there be no corrugation on the one side and 
no twists over the beak they may have 5 to 7 serrations 
if they be in proportion, the middle one the largest, but 
if, as in this case, it turns off only a little from a straight 

line cut Yz 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — If red and no accident happens 
they generally have little to cut, for if they have enamel 
coating on them then they are disqualified. If, as in the 

cockerel before us, one is shorter than the other, cut I 

Neck. — Having a well arched and full hackle, whitish gray 
barred with a deep-blue, should go uncut; if white in under- 
color, no clouded bars across it, then cut I|^ 

Back. — This should, to be perfect, have a slope from neck to a 
point just back of hips, when the saddle should turn in a 
moderately sharp concave sweep to tail. In this case color 
was bluish gray barred with navy blue, but with the defect. 
(See cut.) We allow Y^ point for color, i^ for form. This 

is 50 per cent cut for shape 2 

Breast and Body. — This being Standard color, full and round, 

and sides rounded, we see no reason to cut it at all O 

Wings. — In this living example we find in the flights white spots 
on web, and a bronzy brown bar here and there in the wing- 
bows, and we cut I ^ 

Tail. — With this hollow out of back the tail looks long and slim, 
but build the back up to its proper position and do we need 
to alter the tail at all to satisfy the demands of the Standard ? 

We think not o 

Fluff. — Not so full as to hide the hocks o 



344 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Legs and Toes. — These are a trifle long, but toes are not quite 
straight, not really crooked, but have a long curve from 
shanks to tips; color good i^ 

Total points out lO 

The bird scoring go 

And with this fault, and in all eight sections defective, 
we have ninety points, a pretty good one in a Standard 
sense of first-class. But a man who looks at portraits or 
animal pictures with simply an artist's eye for the beauti- 
ful, having no thought or knowledge as to the anatomy 
and characteristics of a breed, or take three-fourths of 
our breeders of Plymouth Rocks, whose judgment was 
prejudiced by an interest in the competition, in all 
probability a majority of them would cut, to wit : 
symmetry 2, back 2, breast and body 2, and tail i. 
We have seen just this exhibition of judgment expressed 
over a bird of like character as our cut represents. We 
have spoken of symmetry, the wish of some that it be 
retained for the flexibility it gives the Standard. If 
such a bird were scored without symmetry, such would 
be fairly scored, but a bird that looks awkward suffers 
in an ever-increasing ratio by the influence of symmetry 
in the Standard. A judge who cared more for his rep- 
utation than for justice could cut deep in such cases 
and shut out such specimens from winning, and his 
course would not be questioned because the flexibility 
of the Standard coming in here, there being no de- 
scription for symmetry by which to question his ideal 
of symmetry, the answer, " Well, it's my idea of it," 
would silence them all. 

Fine colored pullets are scarce, and to win takes a 



JUDGING. 345 

very pure colored one indeed. The difference between 
the winning birds and the balance of the fifty per 
cent of the best birds we raise is small. Bright blue 
tinged pullets will attract universal attention, while one 
clouded in the light colored bars brings censure for 
judgment in cases where they win, and win they often- 
times do, and fairly. For instance, note the difference 
in the two birds here presented : 

PLYMOUTH ROCK PULLET, NO. I. 



Symmetry. — Head of medium size, carried high, having a yellow 
beak and bay eye, which gives a bright expression ; comb 
erect ; a nice tapering neck ; back had just rise enough in 
cushion to break the concave form of back ; tail carried closed 
to a point ; breast round as a ball in front, and making a 

complete juncture with body o 

Weight. — byi pounds o 

Condition. — Whole plumage and in health o 

Head. — Small ; yellow beak and bay eyes o 

Comb. — Erect but rather large ; one side sprig i^ 

Ear-lobes and Wattles — Red, no white in them o 

Neck. — Long, tapering, light bars grizzled with black, bars 

black 2 

Back — Shape all we could wish, but color stone-color with black 

bars 1% 

Breast and Body. — Form all right; color dark blue barred 

with black 2 

Wings. — Fold in a smutty black point ; bows bluish gray with 

black bars 2 

Tail. — Light color in them, clouded bars, nearly black i j^ 

Fluff. — Very dark stone-color, approaching blackT i 

Legs and Toes. — Have several black scales i 

Total points out 12^2 

The bird scoring 87^ 



346 POULTRY CULTURE. 

This, it will be seen, is a very dark colored speci- 
men. But there is but one step from a blue black to a 
black bar, the greater cut being for the influence of the 
darkened light bars, that converts the pretty bright 
blue-tinged specimen into an objectionable one. 

One may be ever so beautiful in color, but they may 
be so unfortunate in form and defective in comb, and 
lack in weight, and pretty as they may look to the 
general observer be forced to take a second position 
to even a dark specimen, to wit : 

Symmetry. — Short in neck ; close cleaving plumage to back ; 
breast wedge-shaped ; tail spread out ; legs turn in a bit at 
knees, all of which affect symmetry seriously, though the 

evil in each section be not so great 2 

Weight. — 6 pounds i 

Condition. — Wet nostrils, breath fetid 1 

Head. — Beak white ; eye white, dull i 

Comb. — Has a twist in front, too high behind i^ 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Ears have a fatty, white appearance, 

not red and nice i 

Neck. — Trifle short ; head little forward i 

Back. — No crowning of cushion i 

Breast and Body. — Wedge-shaped ; body thin i j^ 

Wings. — Carried loosely to sides ; flights hang too low i 

Tail. — Fanned out, not pointed ^ 

Fluff o 

Legs and Toes. — Legs have black scales i 

Total points out 13^ 

The bird scoring 86 j^ 

Nineteen in twenty, to take a look and say, would 
give this specimen the prize just for her bright colored 
bluish-gray plumage. The Standard fairly applied, she 
is fairly beaten. 




PLYMOUTH KUCK PULLET. 



347 



JUDGING. 349 

For this favorite color look at a summer sky, with 
its light azure blue, then bar it across evenly with a 
dark blue, and you have a perfect-colored Plymouth 
Rock, one of America's most popular fowls. 

WYANDOTTES. 

This new breed must for some time yet score low 
in Standard points so far as the majority of the speci- 
mens are concerned. Yet a few isolated specimens 
reach ninety to ninety-two in the males, and we have 
seen specimens to score ninety-four and one-half in 
females. This complication of color, or rather com- 
bining a penciled and spangled race, and out of which 
to establish a lace plumage, has been no easy matter, 
and in describing our matings we have said much on 
this subject, and we cannot add anything under the 
head of judging than in a general way, to score speci- 
mens that represent the best we have yet seen and 
judged, and those that are peculiarly faulty. 

The best male it was our lot to judge the past sea- 
son was the following 

WY.\XDOTTE COCKEREL. 

Symmetry. — Was short and well arched in neck ; breast full and 
round ; back had just the right slope to the commencement 
of saddle, which curved in a beautiful sweep upon the tail, 
which was of good size and fully developed, and carried 
moderately upright ; legs medium in length, thighs and hock 

joints preserving their profile o 

Weight. — 6)4 pounds 2 

Condition o 

He.\d. — Short, crown was broad ; plumage silver color, bay eyes, o 
Comb. — Medium size, not quite square in front, fell back in an 
even sweep, and good spike, slight hollow in middle of upper 
surface '. I 



350 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Neck. — Silver white, center stripe good, not perfect ; black on 

edge of feathers , i^ 

Back. — Back flat at shoulders, edge of saddle feather colored 

up with copper black color 2 

Breast and Body. — Round at sides, but little flat in front ; 

color black, with small white centers i 

Wings. — Nicely folded, bars solid, like a Dark Brahma, with 

white in flights ; coverts solid black on upper web, and for 

an inch from tip of under web 1 1^ 

Tail. — Black, full, carried moderately upright o 

Fluff. — A too light color i 

Legs and Toes. — Yellow and nice o 

Total points out lo 

The bird scoring go 

This was one of the best birds of this breed scored 
by me the past year. It is a breed that baffles the 
breeder, and such a specimen is as rare as a ninety-four 
point Plymouth Rock. The description of the wing 
coverts in the Standard should not have stopped where 
it did, for fully one-half of the best birds shown have 
coverts the feather of which is a black upper web, the 
black rounding the point with a hook and terminating 
at the edge of the lower web about half an inch from 
its point. This description was to have been added to 
the last edition of the Standard, but from some mis- 
chance was by the printer left out. 

The females in form are almost the same as a Plym- 
outh Rock, except the tail not carried so much to a 
point, being well spread at base. Ninety-four and one- 
half points is the best score we, as a judge, as yet have 
given to any specimen, and we think but three of them. 
Nature seems to say to us that "none are perfect ; no. 



JUDGING. 351 

not one." Even in our old breeds in male or female, 
few will approximate to loo points. All the improve- 
ment man seems to make is to increase by care and 
watchfulness the number of these superior specimens. 
We may in ten years in this breed run the best speci- 
mens up to ninety-three to ninety-six for a very few of 
the best females, and the males get an isolated score of 
ninety-five. This will be very high if the score be an 
honest one. In all the exhibitions so far the males 
have scored from eighty-one to eighty-nine, as a rule, 
and the examination of the scores show the largest cut 
to be in neck, breast and body or wings, the latter rul- 
ing the highest, while in females they cut heavily in 
breast and body, neck and back, and prizes won on 
males scoring as low down as eighty-one ; in fact we 
have seen such birds sold as being prize winners. 
Breeders have little thought of their reputation when 
they give publicity and inferred breeding merit by such 
certificate on birds below the Standard demands for 
first-class stocks. A cock to score like the following 
cannot be a credit to any breeder: 

WYANDOTTE COCK. 

Symmetry. — Long in neck and legs ; breast thin, dropping into 
wedge shape, viewed from in front, with narrow saddle ; tail 

pinched with straight sickles 2 

Weight. — 7 pounds 3 

Condition. — Plun).age broken i^ 

Head. — Long and narrow ; eyes pearl color i^ 

Comb. — Very large, surface very uneven, flanging in circular side 

sweep ; from front to spike, which turned sharply to left side. 4 
Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Ear-lobes a pale yellowish red with 
white in center i J^ 



352 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Neck. — Long, hackle straw color, centers mixed gray and black, 

outer edge of same shaded through with a dark copper color, 3 
Back. — Oval at shoulders, scant in saddle, allowing tail to cut 

through ; color much like neck 3 

Breast and Body. — Wedge-shape, good color, but run into 

gray thighs i^ 

Wings. — Were set on low down ; bows good color, flight one-half 

white ; bars entirely wanting 4 

Tail. — Carried too high, being a squirrel tail ; white half the 

length of sickles, the whole carried close and straight 2^ 

Fluff. — A light gray. ... i 

Legs and Toes. — Shanks long and turned in at knees 2 

Total points out 30^ 

The bird scoring ^9)4 

This bird was shown by a novice, a young man who 
had bought the bird as a breeder on the following rec 
ommendation : "I can sell you a cock I bred from last 
season, and one that will do you good as an infusion of 
blood with the pullets you name." We ask the ques 
tions. Have we cut too deeply for the faults as we de- 
scribe them ? Do they not stand the test when we con- 
sider the percentage of the whole section ? and. Do they 
not, as you consider each section, show the doubts in 
judgment cast in favor of' the .specimen? If so, what 
must we think of a breeder who will ship such a bird 
to a man who tells him he knows nothing about the 
breed, as one that will do his flock good by -the infu 
sion of blood from such a bundle of defects as this 
score presents ? A pullet we once scored sold for $3, 
and we saw it win over the seller's pullet ; he refused 
$20 for her. We find the buyer used better than he 
deserved, to wit : . 



JUDGING. 353 

Symmetry. — Having a fine arched neck, a full rounded cushion, 
tail fanned out with base widespread, and rich curling feathers 
black as a coal underneath ; breast round, both at sides and in 

front o 

Weight. — Weighed six full pounds o 

Condition. — In perfect health o 

He.'^d. — Nice form, but eye pale, light color i 

Comb, — Was void of spike 3 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Neck. — The lower row of hackle feathers a little smutty i 

Back. — Nice white center, good size, but slightly penciled. . .(x) o 

Breast and Body. — Breast nearly perfectly laced. i 

Wings. — As near perfect as one sees • o 

Tail. — Black as a coal o 

Legs and Toes. — Nice color, one middle toe a little crooked. ... ^ 

Total points out 6^ 

The bird scoring. 93^ 

This was the sweepstakes pullet of a noted exhib- 
itor, and has attained an enviable reputation, having 
won several prizes. The breeder saw only the bad 
comb and crooked toe ; he did not look her all over and 
reckon up her good points or stop to see the defects 
in her aggregated but six and one-half. He chanced 
a bird against her that had a spangled breast, that lost 
three points in weight, and had a white fluff. When 
figuring up the card the owner said, "You have made a 
mistake, for I sold the bird you have given first to for 
I wish you would show me why my pullet did not 
win." We answer him that we could do that without 
going to the coop, your bird is light weight and white 
in fluff. Not believing it he went and looked, coming 
back and acknowledging that he did not know she 
was spangle-breasted and white in the fluff till then. 



354 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Spangle-breast looks the same as a laced one on the 
yard, if the spangles are moon-shaped, which often de- 
ceives. By constantly scoring our birds we become 
familiar with the Standard, and acquainted with our 
birds. We would as soon think of walking in the rain 
without an umbrella and expect to keep dry, as to win 
at a poultry exhibition without first scoring our birds 
at home to decide which to carry. 

WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH. 

The cuts for this breed as seen in our poultry jour- 
nals are nearer right and give a more accurate idea of 
symmetry than do most cuts of Plymouth Rocks and 
Wyandottes. We demand of the male specimens, tO' 
be perfect in form and symmetry, that the crest be 
large and flow backward to the sides in an even mass, 
not parted or falling forward ; that the neck be well 
arched, head carried well back, back sloping to tail, 
that comes up with a sharp angle, the same being 
large, sickles long, with a profusion of lesser sickles ; 
breast carried well forward in a full round front, body 
plump, legs not long. Such should demand a full 
score. But how different from this do many speci- 
mens appear at our leading exhibitions. This breed, 
made up as it is of white and black plumage, is a dififi- 
cult one to preserve the black in its entirety, for all 
black breeds, if too much in-bred or if in a low state of 
vitality while breeding, invariably show it in white 
taint in the black plumage, and when white crests are 
the peculiar feature, to secure both in perfection man 
has to step in with art of his own to help in this com- 
plete division of color. To read the Standard, and 



JUDGING. 355 

with it look upon an illustration of the breed made 
perfect in form and color, taking that as a rule by 
which we measure, do you marvel at the following 
specimens scoring below ninety points? 

WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH COCKEREL. 

SViMMETRY. — Head carried forward, giving neck a straight ap- 
pearance ; crest falling out from the center, falling to front 
as well as side and back; backwhat is termed "rouched," being 
oval from hackle to tail; tail, though 'arge, drooping; breast 

and body wedge-shaped from in front 2^ 

Size. — Small for the breed i 

Condition. — Suffering from incipient stages of roup; breath 

fetid ; nose filled up r 

Head. — Beak too short; nostrils not rising above crown of beak, i 
Chest. — Fully to front; does not flow back smoothly and is not 
large enough, the sides of it do not reach side of hackle near 

wattles 3% 

Comb. — Large, looks like an elk's flange to their horns lyi 

^AR-LOBES AND WATTLES O 

Neck. — Too straight; head carried forward of breast, and a dis- 
position to show streaks of white in undercolor i^ 

Back. — A round back, both from side to side and from hackle to 
tail lYi 

Bur.AST AND Body. — Too thin breast, wedge-shaped; color 
fairly good i% 

Wings. — Not well tucked; lack the metallic luster on surface 
plumage, flights and secondaries have sheeny light spots, 
some so light as to be white in the center of them to the length 
of a half inch; this is a serious fault, for if the white be found 
one inch in length the birds would be disqualified 2% 

Tail. — Color fairly good, but carried too trailing i 

Legs. — Medium in length, and black o 

Total points out i8^ 

The bird scoring 8i J^ 



356 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



We know we have dealt fairly with this specimen, 
yet see the havoc in the general result. Few male 
Polish reach a score above ninety points, even in our 
exhibitions, where it is expected that the very best 
specimens, the best five per cent of the birds raised, are 
only sent. It is fair to say that the poorer fifty per 




WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH. 



cent do not score eighty points in a single instance.] 
We as exhibitors and by our exhibitions raise the| 
Standard and capabilities of the breed so high that wej 
lower the commercial value of the average stock and] 
give a fictitious value to the winners. Practically the 
best fifteen f)er cent of one flock is worth as breeders I 



JUDGING. -357 

one as much as another, but the one that wins the 
prize out of the fifteen will sell for five times what the 
poorest one of the fifteen would sell for, the success 
as breeders depending upon the mating, and for want 
of knowledge in this the high priced one proves worth- 
less, for all his winning and high price paid. 

Many of the females score high, one of bright color 
and in perfect health, having a good plump body and 
perfectly round crest carried close together, generally 
wins a position above ninety, and we have seen them 
go to ninety-seven points. 

WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH PULLET. 

Symmetry. — She having a large perfectly round crest, with a nice 
sharp arch to neck ; back straight, tail fanned out, breast round 

and carried forward, medium long legs, is not cut o 

Size.' — Good fair size, being plump and solid in fiber of flesh o 

Condition. — Healthy, active, no broken plumage o 

Head. — Not large, beak tapers, nostril high o 

Breast. — Not so large as to look too heavy, but good si::.:, carried 

close, like a snowball carried in a black saucer o 

Comb. — Two nice little horns concealed in crest o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Standard o 

Neck. — Well arched, black as a coal o 

Back. — Straight and metallic black o 

Breast and Body. — Full, round in front, and black ; sides round 

and body black o 

Wings. — Here we stop to find them full of light spots in flight 

and secondaries 3 

Tail. — Fanned out, and coal black o 

Legs. — Black and nice in scale o 

Total points out 3 

The bird scoring 97 



358 POULTRY CULTURE, 

Such a specimen it was once our lot to score, the 
best one and only one I remember of such excellence. 
The Standard describes the section that which receives 
no cut, and gives us the score card full lOO points, and 
it is from the perfect that we judge the imperfect, thus 
it is in each section we first consider, to wit : crest is 
fifteen, large size is important, and we say nine points 
of the fifteen represent size and shape and color. We 
find a crest half the size it should be, but prime in color, 
then we cut four points. Half the lookers-on think the 
cut a light one, for these have the whole fifteen points 
in mind. The claim that some judges make that they 
can use ten points for size is erroneous. The Standard 
does not say a bird shall be disqualified if it has no 
crest, but no good judge would hesitate to disqualify 
such a bird as unworthy, or take the stand that until it 
has a crest it is not a Polish, but we can cut from one 
to nine points for size and shape, and six points for 
color. A crest wholly black could be cut but six 
points or so in degree as the defects appear. As a gen- 
eral rule in crest the cuts will run from one and a half 
to five points ; not many specimens that cut below 
seven in crest, while in other sections one-half to 
two points is seldom exceeded in sections valued under 
ten points, with one-half to three points in those 
having ten points as their Standard value. Judgment 
is a quick worker; it is a lightning calculator. The 
moment the mind takes the number of the section it 
tells at a flash the percentage it is damaged by the de- 
fect, and he who will always keep in mind the value of 
the perfect section will seldom err if he takes his first 
impressions as to the value of the defects in hand. 



JUDGING. ' 359 



SILVER POLISH. 

Silver and Golden Polish males will be found to score 
the highest when they have a laced plumage, and 
females when they have a spangled plumage, and as we 
stated in mating, a laced cock and spangled hen look to a 
general observer to be the best matched in the pen, 
the greatest failure in this variety being found in 
wings, crest and tail. The -Polish race are birds of 
plumage; they carry more weight of plumage in com- 
parison to weight of flesh than any other. This beauty 
is maintained at a cost of muscle. The young chicks 
feather out quickly, and it is with difficulty they are 
raised. If they get thoroughly wet while quite young 
generally it results fatally. They are raised for their 
beauty and eggs ; for poultry they are not desirable. 
To judge them we do not so much consider the prac- 
tical as we do plumage and color of the same, with 
carriage ; in symmetry the same profile is demanded as 
in the Black Polish. One is surprised to see how many 
males of this breed will score from eighty-seven and 
a-half to ninety and a-half and to see how few reach 
ninety-two. We have judged a whole season and not 
given a score beyond ninety-one and a half. This is a 
cock that won wherever exhibited: 

Symmetry. — As described in W. C. Black Polish o 

Weight. — Was a noble, large specimen o 

Condition. — Strong, in perfect health, and prime condition of 

plumage o 

Head. — Had a fine nostril ; a deep, bright, dark eye o 

Crest. — Was large, fine shape, nicely laced, but had white in 

center 2 

Comb. — Small, " V " shape o 



<i60 POULTRY CULTURE. 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

Neck. — A full, flowing hackle (x) 

Back. — Was Standard, except too light color, saddle tips not deep 
black I 

Breast and Body. — Full, round ; sides all right ; lacing did not 
extend fully round the web. 1 1^ 

Wings. — Failed in the bar; in other respects prime, except fell 
off in the shade of the black tips to primaries and secondaries, 2}< 

Tail. — Was large and full, but had the same fault all prime 
colored specimens have. The tail was gray instead of silver 
white, but beautiful in the spangled points of the tail and 
sickles I ^ 

Legs and Toes . o 

Total points out 8j4 

The bird scoring 91^ 

But such birds are scarce, and when they score 
more they are exceedingly fine or are judged leniently. 

The females often score better, as is the case with 
the females of all breeds. The mate to this male, a 
hen of the spangled type, scored, to wit : 

Symmetry. — Fully up to Standard description o 

Size. — Full 5^ pounds; a large one o 

Condition. — Was always in health o 

Head o 

Crest. — Was beautifully shaped and large enough, but too many 

solid white feathers in it; fully one third of them i^ 

Comb. — A beautiful one, " V " shaped o 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Had red in the ear-lobes i}4. 

Neck. — Well arched, silver white, and perfectly laced with black, o 
Back. — Straight, flat at shoulders, silver white, with nice, large 

moon spangles o 

Breast and Body. — Full and round, completely spangled, but 

had white dots in the black spangle 1% 

Wings. — Coverts both laced and spangled ; in fact Standard 

throughout O 



JUDGING. 361 

Tail. — Tail was a good one. Good color in the other sections 
will invariably cloud the tail with gray. We in this case, 
knowing the effect of breeding, and believing that in this 
breed dark gray should be admissible, cut ^ 

Legs and Toes o 

Total points out 5 

The bird scoring 95 

This is the best score we in our capacity as judge 
ever gave a Silver-Spangled Polish hen, and this pair, one 
hundred and eighty-six and a-half points, the highest 
scors card, we think, to be shown signed by me for 
Silver-Spangled Polish fowls. 

In this breed an evil very prevalant is a crooked 
breast-bone, and probably fully one-half the birds are 
cut from one-half to even two points for the turn- 
ing over to one side, often to such an extent 
as to mar the symmetry. They have large wings 
while small, and will go to roost quite early, the edge 
of a barrel being often utilized for a roost, and using 
such a sharp roost while the breast is little better than 
jelly gets a turn in it that becomes quite an ugly angle 
when fully grown. In judging one must not forget to 
run the hand along the sternum to be sure they are 
not leaving out this defect. 

HOUDANS. 

This race has no doubt sprung from a cross of the 
Black Polish and Colored and White Dorking. We 
have in them the fifth toe of the Dorking and a con- 
formation of body as between the two breeds. The 
posterior weight in them is very much more than in 



362 POULTRY CULTURE. „ 

the Polish. This has come from an Asiatic source, as 
indicated by the feathered legs, sometimes seen. He 
who is influenced by Polish profile in judging a Houdan 
in symmetry commits an error, for to secure a full 
score in a Houdan he must have a shortish neck, full 
hackle, medium long back, approaching Dorking type, 
but sloping toward tail ; breast full and deep, body 
plump and full at sides, large wings, tail expanded, 
with large sickles, legs not long, but thighs large, such 
score full in 

Symmetry o 

Weight. — If a cockerel, he must weigh 6^ or more to get a full 
score o 

Condition. — If in perfect health and plumage is not broken, one 
cannot cut » o 

Head. — If nostril be flat and eye a dull, pale color, cut i^ 

Crest and Beard — If the beard be scarcely visible and crest 
straggles forward, and more than half white, cut for these two 
defects 6 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Have no value in judging o 

Neck. — If neck be short and plumage evenly broken in black 
and white, do not cut o 

Back. — If it be solid black, but good in shape \}4, 

Breast and Body. — If the breast fall off in its round side sweep, 

and is wholly black, cut lyi, 

(If wholly white, with some defect of shape, cut at least. . . . 2j4 

Wings. — If bows are wholly black, with secondaries and prim- 
aries as described in Standard i 

Tail. — If large, full, and sickle large and long and one-third white 
in color o 

Legs and Toes. — If the two hind toes make a letter V, cut lyi 

(If the hind one turn up with a long sweep and of Standard 
color, do not cut.) 

Total points out 13 

The bird scoring 87 



JUDGING. 363 

With this defect we have eighty-seven points of ex- 
cellence, about the average specimen of the race. 

Females whiten out as they molt from pullets to 
hens. For this reason we allow pullets to be consid- 
ered perfect when they present one-fourth white in the 
plumage. Such pullets as a rule come about evenly 
broken in black and white as hens. 

Every third feather in a black plumage makes quite 
a speckled specimen, and a bird actually evenly divided 
into black and white will look to be more white than 
black, one has to say when in appearance they are evenly 
broken in white and black in their plumage. To score 
a pullet that came before us at New Bedford we say: 

HOUDAN PULLET. 

Symmetry. — Heavily crested; beard concealing wholly the ear- 
lobes, but being nicely broken in black and white; neck 

arched; back nice in width, and straight o 

Weight. — Standard weight o 

Condition o 

Head. — Nostril high; deep bay eyes o 

Comb. — Had the leaf, and little large i 

Ear-lobes and Wattles o 

NtCK. — One-third white, arched back so head came over breast. . o 

Back. — Was so nearly black that we cut i^ 

Breast and Body. — Not quite full and round, evenly broken in 

black and white r 

Wings. — All right but flights, they were largely white, whole 

feathers being white i J^ 

Tail. — Nicely broken in color, carried well up and nicely fanned 

out o 

Legs and Toes. — Pinkish-white mottled with black, and the rear 
toes were curved up in a perfect sweep to shanks o 

Total points out 5 

The bird scoring. 95 



364 POULTRY CULTURE. 

This is a score seldom reached by the Houdans, 
ninety-one to ninety-two being considered sure winners 
of one of the three prizes usually given. The feet vary 
from one-half to three points ; should the shank be 
wholly black and the rear toe shorter than the under 
one, we should cut three points, or if the shank be 
nearly wholly the lighter shade, with only here and 
there a black, scale, and the fifth toe be long and well 
curved, then cut but one and one-half points ; if the 
breast-bone be crooked, from one-half to two points as 
in degree. What we have said in regard to crest in 
Polish will apply here, only that crest has but six 
points for size and shape, four for color, beard three 
for size and two for color, the whole under one section 
at fifteen points. A Houdan crest reduced one-half in 
size, color being good, would suffer but three points 
where the same defect in Polish would be cut four. 

BLACK JAVAS. 

In judging all breeds the first thing a judge will do 
is to look for disqualifications, and in this breed if he 
finds the comb turned in the form of a letter S over] 
the beak ; if the comb has fallen over in a limp condi- 
tion to either side ; if the back be deformed, the tail 
carried out of a straight line with head and back, or if 
in the plumage red or yellowish-red or white feathers .j 
are found, he goes no further, but passes the specimen 
as disqualified, being not eligible to competition. 

The bird, if free from the foregoing faults, is first j 
considered under the head of symmetry, which has a 
value of ten points, which to be perfect and receive the 
full value must be straight in comb, neck nicely arched, 




365 



JUDGING. 367 

the long hackle having a graceful curve onto the back 
and over shoulder points, the saddle having a sharp 
(.oncave sweep to tail, the latter carried well up and 
furnished with long flowing sickles, breast full and 
round, body rather long, deep and round, legs mediunn 
long, not turned in at hocks. As the bird shall be 
different from this description he is punished by a de- 
duction of points called outs, and should his neck be 
straight, losing the nice arch desired, he is punished 
from one to two points. If flat in forward curve of 
breast line one-half to one and a-half points. If the back 
be oval in shape from neck to tail one-half to one and 
a-half points. If the tail droops, one-half to two points. 
If breast bone be turned over, but not affecting his 
symmetry, it is not cut ; if so crooked as to show a 
want of depth, it is cut under the head of " Body." If 
legs turn in at hocks they affect symmetry from one to 
one and a-half points. All these outs affect symmetry, 
as they affect the perfect form desired. 

Weight. — The scales control cutting two points per 
pound for all deficit of Standard weight. 

Condition. — If a bird shows a want of vitality, being 
sick; if legs are rough and scaly from the effects of 
filth or parasites ; if the plumage be badly broken, all 
of which have their punishment under condition, and 
are cut from one to three points as in degree the above 
defects are discovered, health and cleanliness being the 
main consideration under this section. 

Head. — If the eyes be other than brown in color 
cut one point, if one eye be sightless cut two points, if 
the beak be other than black cut one point, plumage 
brown, not black, one point, skull enlarged on one 



368 POULTRY CULTURE. 

side two points, if slightly enlarged on both sides two' 
points. 

Comb. — A single turn to one side cut one to one' 
and a-half points, if the comb show a loop or turn 
both sides of a straight line from the center of comb 
to beak it is a twist, thus, S, and is a disqualification 
if not smooth, the sides being corrugated, we cut from 
one to two points for the defect ; if curved in its line 
from back to rear point, but standing upright, cut one 
point, if much curved, two points; a lopped comb is 
where it rolls over from the top ; not evenly serrated, 
cut one to two points ; four serrations, though even, 
should be cut a point, for less than five serrations can- 
not be called a perfect comb ; size is punished from 
one to three points. 

Wattles and Ear-Lobes. — The former should be 
well developed, hanging even, but not so pendent as in 
Leghorns ; if one be shorter, cut a point ; if they be 
wrinkled, a point ; white appearing in ear-lobe, cut i to 
3 points, as in degree ; if the ear has been cut off to 
dispose of the white, disqualify, for the specimen can- 
not be said to be exhibited in its natural condition. 

Neck. — If too straight cut a point for its failure to 
arch, hackle feather being short, cut a point ; if same be 
twisted, I to 1)4 points; if the color be a rusty black 
cut I point to i}4 points; if a blackish brown color cut 
as deep as three points; if red, white or brassy color 
appear in neck, disqualify. 

Back. — If narrow and oval cut a point each ; if 
rouched, being oval from neck to tail, cut i to 2 points 
as in degree ; if the color be other than a heavy velvety 
black cut I to I j^ as it fails in this respect; if both 



JUDGING. 369 

back and saddle be rusty or brown black cut three 
points. 

Breast and Body. — If flat in breast cut i point ; 
if wedge-shape and keel far back, being straight from 
throat to thighs, cut 2 points ; if body be narrow and 
sides flat, cut 2 points, cutting less when the evil is less 
prominent ; want of deep black shade at throat, cut a 
point ; under part of body is a dead black, as is all 
plumage not exposed to direct rays of the sun and air. 
If body be a reddish black, cut ^ to i^, as in degree. 

Wings. — Primaries exposed to view, cut ^/^ to 2^ 
points, and 3 points if folded outside of secondaries ; 
if the wing be set on low, giving oval shape to back, 
cut a point ; color of bows, if not deep metallic black, 
cut a point ; the flights having bluish-gray, sheeny spots, 
cut from I to 3 points ; white in them disqualifies. 

Tail. — If carried past the perpendicular, should be 
cut from I to 2^^, as it becomes badly squirreled; 
sickles straight cut i point, a long flowing sickle being 
the perfect thing ; tail proper, if pinched, cut a point, 
should be well spread at base ; sickles short, i point ; 
if failing in rich metallic black color, cut from i to i ^ 
points. 

Legs. — Good size thighs, large for the breed, shanks 
look stout, but the plumage of thighs and the shanks 
should be black, but dark willow will sometimes be 
found in old fowls ; bottom of foot yellow. A white 
foot, cut lyi points; willow legs in chicks, cut 2 points. 
Very dark willow in old fowls should not be cut, but in 
judging them, other things being equal, give black the 
preference. 

We have treated this breed as the judge would anal- 



370 POULTRY CULTURE. 

yze it in his work of judging. The rules we hav^ 
apphed as to relative cuts for defect apply to all breed 
alike. The theory or formula here given may, in con 
junction with the different manner employed in th 
other breeds, serve to give a better understanding o 
the score system of judging 

THE JAVA HEN, 

to which we apply the Standard as an individual! 
for we have a very vivid picture before us. 

A metallic black for surface color is Standard, but 
no colors but red, white and the color of brass dis 
qualify. With these facts before you score in your mine 
with me the following two pullets: 

Symmetry for No. i. — Head flat and carried forward like a 
Cochin; breast wedge-shaped; body flat at the sides; back 
oval in line from neck to tail; tail upright, reaching the per- 
pendicular line ; fluff pinched into Game shape of stern, (now 
count this influence on symmetry) i for head and neck, i for 
back, I for tail, i in breast and body, being an effect upon sym- 
metry of 4 

(Such a bundle is seldom found in one bird). 

Weight. — Weighed 7 pounds o 

Condition. — Thin, poor in flesh, legs scaly 2 

Head. — Flat i 

Comb. — Twisted above beak 2 

Ear-lobes and Wattles (x) o 

Neck. — Too straight; color of plumage rusty black, and hackle 

shut 2^^ 

Back. — Oval, and not bright in color i^ 

Breast and Body. — Breast V-shaped; body narrow and not deep . 2 
Wings. — Flights and secondaries had slate-colored spots through- 
out, and bow a rusty black , 2 

Tail. — Perpendicular, reddish-black, with slate shading in tail 
proper 2^ 



JUDGING. 371 

LUFF. — Pinched I 

,EGS. — Willow, black; white feet 2 

Total points out 22 j^ 

The bird scoring 77^ 

One would hardly think a breeder would show such 
specimen, yet I scored such a one in a breeding-pen 
nth. the following 

PULLET. 

YMMETRY. — Head broad, eye bright brown, neck well arched, 
back broad and well cushioned, but not Cochin-shaped; tail 
tolerably upright; full in the breast, and plump, round sides to 

body; legs straight and well apart (x) o 

IZE. — Full o 

ONDITION. — Had a slight fullness of skull on left side.. I ..... .(x) i 

Iead. — As in condition (x) i 

AR-LOBES AND WATTLES O 

fECK. — Glossy greenish black, and well arched -hackle, flowed 

well over shoulder o 

ACK. — Profile nice, but wing little down; back not flat enough at 

shoulder; cut i instead }4. in symmetry; }4 in back (x) i 

REAST AND BoDY. — All right, being as described in symmetry. . . . o 
ViNGS. — A little too low, and primaries a little exposed. The 
strength of the wing-cords weak, causing both trouble; color 

pure I 

AIL. — All right o 

,EGS. — All right, but bottom of foot too pale, approaching pink i 

Total points out 5 

The bird scoring 95 

People will show specimens with this wide difference 
n the show pen. Neither of these birds are disquali- 
ied individually. The question is, do they match in 
he pen, and ought such a pen to be disqualified ? We 



372 POULTRY CULTURE. 

say, yes ; for the poor hen scores less than eighty-five 
and the Standard declares such birds to be not firs ' 
class. But when societies say that points may win 
prize, we take the ground that the judge must let then 
compete, for the poorest birds are entitled to a priz 
individually, therefore, it seems a contradiction of term 
to disqualify her under this matching clause. As a rule 
birds not disqualified as individuals cannot be disqual 
fied under this clause. 

SILKY FOWLS. 

These birds have a plumage which is silky in it 
fiber, not webbing out like other specimens. On 
must see them to be acquainted with the breed ant 
get a correct idea of form. They appear Cochin ii 
form, though should -be called a bantam. They carr 
the head forward, the neck being a turned or curvec 
line rather than arched. Therefore if the head b 
carried over back, symmetry for them is marred ^ 
point ; breast not full, one point ; legs near togethei 
one point. 

Size. — Is comparative. They should not be gro^ 
nor excessively small. Any coarseness of appearance i 
cut from one to two and one-half as in degree. 

Condition. — If legs be scaly, cut i to 3 points 
if roupy, i to 2 points. 

Head. — If beak be light color, cut i point, if fac( 
approach to a red, i to i^ points ; if skull be enlargec 
or eye missing, cut 2 points. 

Comb. — If red cut 3 points ; if not nearly round 
I point ; if hollow at end, being indented, J^ to 2 
if large and loose, i to 2 points. 



JUDGING. 373 

Crest. — If a hood in appearance, turning back, leav- 
g the comb fully exposed, cut from i to 3 points for 

e and i to 2 points for shape. 

Ear-lobes and Wattles. — Cut from one to two 
)ints as they are tainted with red; cut i^ if very 
lall in wattles. 

Neck. — The same is curved forward and slightly 
ched, or, more truly said, graceful in its turn at above 
nction with neck. If the neck be carried back over 
e body, it is a defect to be cut i, notwithstanding 
le might think it more beautiful. 




SILKY FOWLS. 



Back. — The outline of lower part of neck with back 
nd rise of tail should be that of the low line of the 
lell of a rather short egg, making the back rather 
lort, broad and flat at neck, and concave in its sweep 
3 tail, and being any different from this in form 
iiould be cut as a defect. The most prevalent defect 
; a stained reddish cast to the white back, and a tend- 
ncy to web of the plumage. 



374 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



The neck plumage has a long fiber, not truly silky| 
This tendency reaches the back more or less and judge 
some times unjustly disqualify because of the fiaj 
web appearance of back, but pull the feathers and ij 
the hand they will lose this web tendency. The c 
of back for this defect seldom reach more than a p 
ishment of i to i^ points for. both causes combined*! 

Breast and Body. — Breasts are generally plum 
and beyond a tendency to web the feathers near throal 
are seldom cut, i point for breast and body being 
about an average; are generally pure white and silk 
fluffy in the texture of the plumage. 

Wings. — The flights and secondaries are fibroui 
and even webbed ; this is admissible, but not to th^ 
extent in other breeds, but the bows are downy whei 
the feather is plucked. 

Tail. — Much like the thigh feathers in a Cochin,! 
the edge frilled out and slightly curled, straight flight| 
feathers being a defect to be cut from i to 2 points,^ 
while straight, fully webbed plumage disqualifies. 

Thighs. — Are short and abundantly covered in a 
white fluffy silk plumage. Shanks dark blue or black, 
the outsides covered with silky white plumage ; scantil; 
feathered legs cut i to 2 points ; the fifth toe cut ^i 
to 2 points, as it fails in a nice upward curve; outei 
toes void of feathers, cut i point ; if the legs bl 
white cut 2 points ; very pale blue, cut i point. 

JAPANESE BANTAMS. 

The cut for this breed is, of course, expected to b« 
the very best — most perfect — and the colors of th< 
breed being black and white makes a truthful represeujj 




^^ en 




375 



JUDGING. 377 

tation, so far as it in form is identical with the descrip- 
tion in the Standard of Excellence. These little fellows 
must stand with head and tail well brought together 
over the back, but should by no means touch, full pout- 
ing breast, head well back, short legs, with all the im- 
portance possible to be put into a being of short joints 
and a long tail. If the head be carried forward and the 
tail in any way drooping they lose all of three points 
in symmetry. 

Size. — When over 24 ounces for a cockerel and 26 
for a cock, is defective, and should be cut ^ point for 
every ounce and disqualified at 28 ounces. 

Condition. — Affects health and cleanliness. (See 
other breeds spoken of.) 

Head. — A small shrunken head is cut from i to 2 
points, a broad head and wide face is quite a feature 
in this breed ; well developed, evenly serrated, straight 
comb only perfect — by this we do not mean over- 
grown — crooked, twisted or lop combs are not disquali- 
fications, but we punish them severely. A twisted 
comb is cut 3 points ; a lop comb 5 points ; a comb not 
evenly serrated, from i to 3 points ; as in degree a very 
large comb, i to 2 ; a very small comb, i. 

Ear-lobes. — Having white, from ^ to i ^ ; wat- 
tle very small, cut i point ; if not of equal length, i 
point; if wrinkled and folded, ^2 io lyi points. 

Neck. — On account of the high carriage of the head 
is a curve from crown to back, rather than arched ; the 
head carried forward is a defect of 2 points, twice that if 
seen in the Hamburg. If the hackle be tainted by 
spots of black cut from i to 3^, and if striped, 5 
points. If the plumage have a yellow shade, ^ to 2 



378 POULTRY CULTURE. 

points ; back very short, saddle rising abruptly with 
tail, if shaded with yellow cut from ^^ to 2 points ; if 
scant in saddle, ^ to 2 points. 

Breast. — Must be very full and round to escape 
cutting ; if fiat from i to 2 points; if narrow in body, 
not round at sides, i to \y^, and i to 1% \i the 
plumage be tinted with lemon color. 

Wings.— Large, long and white to be perfect ; any 
dark color in them are defects to be cut from i to 2^^ 
points ; black feathers in the plumage or body should 
be cut I point for each feather. 

Tail. — Large, carried squirrel fashion, but somewhat 
expanded at base, with rich, curly feathers in the rear 
of same ; solid black or solid white feather, cut ^ to 
5 points as they shall deviate from a coal black edged 
with white, 5 points being apportioned to color and 5 
to shape, size and carriage. 

Legs. — Thighs short and covered with pure white 
plumage, which should be webbed on the outer side. 

Shanks. — Very short and bright yellow to be per- 
fect. Cut ^ to 2yi for any foreign shading of color 
until the legs become a color to be described by other 
than yellow. 

The Hen. — Li comb, head, ear-lobes, wattles, are 
much smaller and suffer less in ratios than the defects 
named in the male. Neck short and well curved, but 
the space between head and tail is three times that of 
the male, the tail not being carried beyond the per- 
pendicular line, though carried fully upright, is cut i 
to I ^ as it approaches to a squirrel tail ; the shading 
of the plumage suffers alike with the male. The tail 
carried wide spread and looks large for the sex. 



JUDGING. 379 

If what we have said upon judging has induced the 
reader to take his ideal of symmetry from the Stand- 
ard, and if by the specimens we have represented as 
scored we have taught the amateur to judge of the de- 
fect cut by comparison with a perfect Standard type, and 
have caused him to judge of these specimens throwing 
aside every preconceived opinion, tlien our mission 
has been successfuL We have endeavored to describe 
each section as such as would sustain the cut attached, 
as the Standard has described a perfect section and 
given you that section's full score, and lOO points for 
a perfect whole. We, showing as far as we could the 
difference between the section we have described and 
the perfect one, giving the difference in numbers 
called cuts, subtracting them from the full lOO of the 
Standard, giving the full Standard value of the faulty 
specimens scored. In no other way did we feel we 
could treat of all the breeds without the work becoming" 
monotonous reading, and none but a critic interested 
in it ; but by speaking of the recognized general faults 
in a breed and showing its value by score in the speci- 
men by taking up so many breeds, we hope we have 
been able to touch upon all of the many errors and 
omissions of judges in time past, and adding our mite 
toward the enlightenment of the novice on this subject. 

We are aware all there is of worth and of accom- 
plishment in the new ideas or added knowledge of 
one's life can be recorded on a sheet of foolscap, and 
that of many lives a very small sheet would serve the 
purpose. But to clearly make the reader understand 
those facts and new ideas, the accomplishments and 
experience of that life, a large volume becomes neces- 



380 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



sary. I the little we have succeeded in teaching in 
th.s volume be small as compared to the many 
worded explanation of it, we implore your pardon^ 
and thank you for your time spent in its perusal. 
It .s our humble experience of thirty years spent in 
constant companionship with poultry. We may have 
acquired httle, but we have had pleasure, and we 
hope profit to ourselves, in that companionship, and 
behave that he who spends his time in the study of 
animated nature, and makes companions of the cattle 
and poultry of his farm, cannot at heart be a bad man 
and on the farm and in the poultry-yard more content^ 

wa'lK on f ''r^'' '■' '° ^' '"'°y"^ than in other 
walks of hfe and business callings. 




PART IV. 

TURKEYS, DUCKS AND GEESE. 



CHAPTER I. 



TURKEYS. 



THE natural instinct of the turkey is to repair to a 
thicket, or bush beside a wall, to make its nest. 
This often exposes them to egg-eating vermin, as well 
as to foxes, skunks and the weasel. A false cover in the 
yard or near the house will universally be taken ad- 
vantage of by the hen turkey at the time of incubation. 
We have found the best plan to let a barrel one-third 
its diameter into the ground, it lying on its side, then 
fill it up even with the earth on the outside with moist 
earth, covering the same with a thick sod of grass. 
When the hen is off her nest pour about the nest a 
couple of quarts of water during incubation. Constant 
evaporation adds moisture to the heat of the turkey, 
which will secure all the advantage of the hedge-row 
nest. The sod is pressed down into an oval the shape 
of the egg itself, and large enough for fifteen to 
twenty-one eggs, according to size of the turkey, but 
seventeen is full enough in our judgment, the bot- 
tom of the nest being flat, so there will be no undue 

381 



382 POULTRY CULTURE. 

pressure of the eggs one against the other, the nest 
being made up with leaves and cut hay, and not so 
much of it as to lose the moisture from the earth. 
This barrel should be concealed by cutting green 
bushes and sticking them into the ground about it, or 
piling brush over it. If this care is taken not a turkey 
will roam off to nest, and when setting a low fence can 
be put about the cluster of nests that will turn away all 
prowlers and be easily scaled by the turkeys when 
coming off to feed. If grain and water be kept near 
they will not stay off more than twenty minutes. A 
turkey will lay about twenty-six to thirty-one eggs, 
seldom more, for they are rarely fertile after the 
thirtieth egg, until she comes in heat again. A nice 
plan is to save the eggs by keeping them in a cool 
place till the hen turkey wishes to set, when put 
seventeen under her and the balance under hens, set- 
ting the freshest laid ones, and setting them one day 
earlier under hens, and when the turkey is through 
hatching put the whole brood with her to rear. A 
turkey never broods her chicks twice in the same place. 
They generate a poison that destroys them if com- 
pelled to roost in a coop continuously. Give abrood to 
a hen to rear in a coop as we do chicks, and in about 
ten days we see the wings droop and the flock drop off 
one at a time, till but one or two remain. This is the 
prime cause. We would shake Persian insect powder 
about the nest when making it up, and just before the 
eggs are to hatch we would go and quietly sprinkle the 
backs of the turkeys and hens setting freely with it. It 
will work down through and drive off all the lice. If 
the young ones when taken from the nest are dusted 



TURKEYS. 383 

they will start their earthly career free from the pest, 
and generally keep so. 

Let the first meal be chopped boiled eggs, shell and 
all, chopped fine. Avoid all raw meal mixed with cold 
water for the first month. If pains are taken to cook 
all food that is fed in a soft condition till two weeks 
old it will be found to pay. Ground beef scraps one 
pint, oatmeal one pint, cornmeal one quart, mix with 
sour milk, sweeten with soda, finish mixing with 
water, salt and pepper a bit, bake till well done ; this 
for soft food, with chopped onions or water-cresses, 
giving dry oat-groats or steamed oatmeal, as bought 
at the stores, millet seed, canary seed, corn cracked 
fine and the flour sifted out, giving the granulated 
grits with the seed and wheat. Avoid zvJieat screenings, 
for often a wild weed seed in it will produce diarrhoea, 
which is a very prevalent ailment with them, and in an 
aggravated form sure death. The plan of making a 
pen twelve feet square and eighteen inches high on a 
grass plot, and a coop covered, moving both a couple 
of feet each day, makes sure the turkey is not brooding 
on the same spot as the night before. When the 
young turkey commences to jump over these eighteen 
inch sides they may be committed to the mother 
turkey's care, and be comparatively safe. When from 
five and one-half to seven weeks old, when they com- 
mence to "shoot the red head," as it is termed, then 
they should be looked out for, and see that they are 
fed each morning scalded meal and wheat bran, which 
is well seasoned with cayenne pepper, and we think it 
will pay to feed soaked bread crumbs in scalded milk, 
in which iodide of potassium has been dissolved to the 



384 POULTRY CULTURE. 

amount of a full grain to a chick. A severe form of 
diarrhoea attacks at this time, and is quite disastrous to 
them ; when past this period few if any die till the 
hatchet is used at Thanksgiving time. When at- 
tacked with this bowel complaint alluded to, the use of 
pills made and recommended for chickens only, giving 
two as a dose, is our mode of checking the trouble. 
To fat them, a constant supply of charcoal in a crushed 
form to eat at will, Avith the grain and feed spoken of 
elsewhere, should not be forgotten. 

During the first three weeks boiled meat chopped 
fine for one meal per day will be of great benefit, and 
the hot broth thickened with barley and Indian meal 
is also one of the best of soft foods; care should be 
taken not to have the soft food fed out of proportion. 
Fully one-half of all food for young turkeys should be 
in a dry seed form. Curds made from milk three days 
in a week will prevent a too loose state of the bowels. 
Feed turkeys the first three weeks more often and 
sparing than one does chickens. We would feed six 
times a day the first three weeks, and three times a 
day afterward, leaving the hen to ramble with them 
for the balance of their feed ; after six weeks feed when- 
ever they come up to the house. This induces them to 
come home at night, when they will roost in the trees 
near the house. I do not believe it best for them to 
roost in houses till the warm weather is over, when a 
large open shed is the best until December ; when the 
shed is furnished, doors to be closed at night is well. 
If kept too warm through the winter they commence 
to lay too early, the best chicks being those hatched 
in May. We like the fields to have been mowed before 



TURKEYS. 385 

they get clear of their early pens, then they do not 
get draggled by the early dew on the long grass, and 
the grasshopper and insect life come in time for their 
needs, for of all birds of the farm-yard the turkey needs 
to be reared closely to nature's plan. 

BRONZE TURKEYS. 

This magnificent bird is the result of the cross of 
the wild gobbler on the Narragansett female, the cross 
resulting in a large size and beautiful plumage, largely 
controlled by the wild male. The difference in size of 
the sex is widely marked in this breed. In the forma- 
tion of the Standard a sad mistake Avas made in the 
disqualifying weights, though they are three pounds less 
than they passed at the first reading, but the result of 
that vote has cut down the exhibition of these birds to 
chicks, for they are not hampered by a weight clause. 

Sixteen pounds for a female discloses the fact that 
very few specimens that weigh over it are prolific, and 
twenty pound females seldom if ever lay any eggs. Had 
perfect weight been twenty-seven for males and sixteen 
for females and disqualifying weights been twenty-two 
and fourteen pounds, the exhibition in this class would 
have been four-fold what they now are. A gobbler over 
thirty pounds is useless, for no turkey can stand up under 
him, and he becomes a dead letter only as a show speci- 
men. But the day for show without merit has passed. 
We are confident that the disqualifying weight will be 
reduced as mentioned above when next the American 
Poultry Association revise the Standard. 

We think that females of fourteen pounds and up- 
ward should be considered first-class for size, and a 



386 POULTRY CULTURE. 

healthy male in fair flesh at twenty-five pounds to 
twenty-eight pounds as large as should be used, and 
think one hundred of such a male's get will weigh as 
much as one hundred from a male of larger weight. 
The older a turkey is the more valuable it is. A cock 
of twenty-eight pounds at two years old, and sixteen to 
eighteen pound hens over two years old, could be kept 
for ten years and the young turkeys be stronger, and 
such a breeder hold his reputation better as a breeder 
of fine turkeys, than he who uses young birds, like geese. 
We believe in old birds, but have given the limit. 

To judge Bronze Turkeys, we say : 

Symmetry.— To be perfect, head must be carried 
forward to give a slope of neck to back, which from 
neck to tail is an oval sweep to tail, the half from neck 
to back, nearly flat ; the body full, trifle wedge-shaped 
in front ; stern, from shanks to tail, tapering ; tail 
drooping at 20 degrees. If the back be straight, cut a 
point ; if the tail be carried upright, cut 2 points ; if 
legs are turned in at hocks to look awkward, cut sym- 
metry I more. 

Weight. — Male should weigh at present, 30 pounds ; 
cockerel, 20 pounds; female, 18 pounds; pullet, 12 
pounds, to have a full score for weight, and be cut 3 
points to the pound for any deficit. 

Condition. — The same cause and effect comes in 
play here as in fowls. 

Head.— If the head be small and too flat or nar- 
row, cut I to 1^2 ; if smooth, not wrinkled, on old 
birds, I point. 

Wattles. — Are seldom defective in show specimens; 
unless accident causes a cut from i to i^ points. 




BRONZE GOBBLER. 



387 



TURKEYS. 389 

Neck. — If straight from head to back, cut i^ ; it 
should arch at head and run on an incHned plane from 
center to back ; the plumage rich in a bronze luster ; 
if black in plumage, or a blurred slate color, cut i to 
i^ points. 

Back. — Oval, both from side to side and from neck to 
tail, seldom defective in shape and color; a brilliant, burn- 
ished gold bronze color is only perfect in color, and any 
departure from it must be punished by a cut of ^ to 4 
points, as it approaches a color other than Standard. 

Breast and Body. — Seldom defective, unless the 
breast-bone be crooked. Want of flesh around the 
above is the greater defect of form, and seldom causes a 
cut beyond i to 2 points in form, and as the color of 
breast recedes from a burnished gold with red and dark 
reflections, it is cut from i to 2^ as it fades into a dull, 
darker hue. Body is more sober in color, and if black, 
shaded in bars of bronze, must not be cut, but if black, 
wholly, will be cut full 2^ points. 

Wings. — Sometimes fall down, to be cut from ^ to 
ij4 points, but suffer in color, and are cut from ^ to 2 
points, as they fail in the gray bars, and when the 
wings reach a black or dark brown with no bars, are 
disqualified; cut ]4 to lyi for white edging of prima- 
ries; coverts cut % io i}i, as they fail in the broad 
bronze bar of the wing. 

Tail. — Cut from ^ to 2 points as the tail fails in 
its gray tip or lacing of the tips ; a red tip should be 
cut 2 points ; a failure in the reddish-brown bars to tail 
plumage i to 2 points ; a full black tail disquahfies ; 
tail coverts should be black, barred with brown, with a 



390 POULTRY CULTURE. 

broad, black band near the tips of feathers, the tips 
being gray ; such only are perfect. The more distinct 
the color and complete division of these colors, the 
more beautiful the plumage. 

Legs. — Should not turn in at hocks, and we cut 
for this defect from i to 3 points ; black legs in chicks, 
and a pink hue in cock, with a dark shaded pink in 
hens are colors not to be cut. 

The shape and color apply to the hen as in the cock, 
the only difference being that affected by the sex, 
smaller in bone and fuller fluff. 

NARRAGANSETT TURKEY. 

The disqualifying weights in this breed are more 
severe than the Bronze, but the comparative weight of 
the sex shows less difference, but I have never yet seen 
a pair that have been exhibited that came up to 
weight ; yet gobblers have been known to weigh thirty- 
five pounds, and gobblers in the Bronze- variety to 
reach fifty-two pounds ; but for all that, a twenty-five 
pound gobbler in this breed must be conceded a large 
bird. The act of making these very largest known 
specimens perfect specimens in weight is like calling 
the giants of the human race perfect specimens, when 
all known men of six feet in height are the exception. 
A Narragansett gobbler of twenty-six pounds, a cockerel 
of twenty, hen of sixteen, and pullet of eleven pounds 
should go uncut for weight, and all to suffer three 
points to the pound for all deficits, and the disqualify- 
ing weights to range from eighteen, twelve, twelve 
and nine pounds, when we may hope to see the 
turkey coops of our fairs again filled up. The local 



TURKEYS. 391 

societies should have an eye to this matter until such 
time as the matter can come before the national 
society for adjustment. As in the Bronze, we believe 
birds from two to six and seven years of 'age far better 
as breeders and more sure of raising their full broods, 
and their eggs hatch better. 

In form of symmetry one turkey, be he large or 
small, has one form, and defects are found generally in 
those specimens that have a deformity of some kind, 
such as crooked back and wry tails. The turning of 
the breast-bone generally found upon these with a 
defective shaped body, and the only difference in the 
scoring being for color. In the Narragansett, then, if the 

Neck be defective, it is generally in the color. The 
neck plumage must be black, with a wide band of steel- 
gray near the end, the extreme point being black, any 
deviation to be cut from ^ to 3 points as in degree 
it shall by any means be found to be slate color or 
have any buff feathers in it ; when they are discovered 
the specimen should be promptly disqualified. 

The Back. — This section should be almost straight 
from neck to center of back, the center slightly the 
highest. The curve from center to tail is a graceful 
one, but should the color be other than black, having a 
broad steel-gray bar across the same, near the end, the 
very tip being black laced, then we cut from j4 to 2 
points, as the black recedes into a dull black, brownish 
black, or very dark slate color, a bluish slate, or a 
lighter shade, preventing the specimen to compete. 

Breast and Body. — The plumage of breast and 
body is the same in description, thus giving a screen of 
steel-gray rings around breast and body, the over- 



392 POULTRY CULTURE. 

lapping of the wide bars of steel-gray giving the above 
ringed appearance, and cuts of color come from the 
dullness of the black and the broken with black of the 
steel-gray bars, and the blurred appearance of the same 
and the spatters of white or gray in the black tip of 
the feathers. This often makes the necessity of cut- 
ting from^ to i^ for color in this section. 

Wings. — The faults of the wing are generally in 
being set on too low down, and the carriage of the 
flights exposed, ^ to i^, not an uncommon cut, but 
color seldom faulty. The perfect primary or secondary 
will be a dull black, or, as some call it, dark broAvn, the 
gray bars being even and widening near outside web, 
which will be quite light or nearly white at that edge of 
the feather. The wing has two bars, not solid as in the 
Bronze. The bows have a slight bronze tint in the sun. 

The Tail. — Is generally faulty in the color when 
faulty at all, the gray breed having a bronze shade, 
and the black tips tarnished with spatters of gray in 
them, but seldom to exceed more than ^ to a full 
point, as the whole value of the tail is but 5. 

Legs. — Generally salmon brown, in old birds a silver 
salmon color. When white or flesh color, are cut from 
I to 2j4 points, but are seldom cut for defects other 
than crooked toes and turning in of the shanks at 
the hocks, and for these two defects i to 3 points 
are sometimes found necessary to sufficiently punish 
the defect. There is so little difference between the 
male and female in color that nothing need be said 
of the latter under this head. The cut at the head 
of the breed gives a lesson of perfection in itself, 
both as to color and form. 



CHAPTER II. 



DUCKS. 



ROUEN DUCKS. 



DUCKS and turkeys, to mate which one has only to 
discard all specimens disqualified by the Stand- 
ard, and to mate Standard described color, for the best 
results, selecting large healthy specimens, for meat is 
the main question. No one raises ducks for the sale of 
their eggs in the market. The raising of ducks will 
become more and more popular. The wild supply is 
each year diminishing, and it is a fact they are not as 
fine eating as a young duck raised away from the water 
and fed artificially. Duck meat can be produced for 
less cost per pound at ten weeks old than any other 
poultry meat. Still further, ducks are peculiarly a sea- 
side dish and much appreciated in a salt atmosphere. 
By a little care we can induce the old duck by warm 
quarters and generous feed to lay earlier than the 
wild ducks, which by the aid of incubators enables 
the poulterer to put into the market green ducks 
during the entire vacation season when there are 
none to be had from native wild sources. In a pre- 

393 



394 POULTRY CULTURE. 

vious chapter on artificial incubation we stated that 
young ducks at ten weeks old would average seven 
pounds to the pair. This is double the weight of aver- 
age chicken broilers at that age. The price is fully 
equal and the cost fully twenty-five per cent less. 
Therefore we do not hesitate to predict a wonderful 
increase in the demand for ducks of all kinds in the 
near future. While this demand is going on for the 
practical, it will have its influence to boom all aquatics 
in the exhibition of them, and how to judge them cor- 
rectly becomes of still greater interest. We therefore 
offer the following on the 

JUDGING OF ROUEN DUCKS. 

To describe symmetry or form in a duck is a diffi- 
cult pen picture to make, but we say they are "Polyhe- 
dron," depth and width of body being equal, and both 
in ratio to length as three is to five. Such a block, 
with lower forward corners and all four rear corners 
rounded off, gives a pretty good decoy duck when the 
head and tail are adjusted ; and unless the abdomen 
is enlarged and overfat so as to hang down below the 
lower line of the body, seldom cut in symmetry for 
any defect in body. Young ducks, before they get the 
full breast development, will average to lose one point 
in this particular. Weight and color are the grand and 
controlling sections in the solution of the question of 
which is best in competition condition; but as this 
affects weight to such a degree as to make its influence 
felt, and generally gets its punishment under weight, 
being an indirect cut for condition (for a duck is seldom 
sick, and where they have free access to water, seldom 




ROUEN DUCKS. 



395 



DUCKS. 397 

filthy), one-half to two and one-half points In symmetry, 
the latter in a degree as the abdomen hangs below the 
lower line of body. 

Weight is the question, and we are often asked 
how we cut for this, as the Standard gives no perfect 
weights. We have seen a pair of Rouen ducks weigh 
twenty-six pounds, so have we seen a man weigh 635 
pounds. A pair of nice Rouen ducks will weigh 
twelve pounds, and a pair of nice young ones will weigh 
the same. It is a fact that the first growth of the duck 
before laying is nearly fully up to the old one, the old 
one, being heavier feathered, looks larger. I have had 
exhibitors tell me his pair weighed sixteen pounds, 
and weighed them for him to see them reach only nine 
pounds. We say, then, twenty-five points are given for 
weight, which is twenty-five per cent of the points. 
We claim they should earn them, and an old pair of 
ducks weighing less than fourteen pounds should be 
cut three points to the pound for all defects ; ducks 
six pounds and drakes eight pounds. Young ducks 
have to be considered comparatively. If they have 
fine large frames and good bone, showing indication of 
good average size, then cut in degree as our judgment 
shall indicate under the formula offered, above being 
from I to 6 points. 

Condition we have spoken of above ; the cuts 
are most generally caused by an enlarged abdomen, 
and range from one to three points. A great hanging 
down behind will affect a specimen 5 points, 2 in 
symmetry and 3 in condition. 

Head. — Defect generally appears in a foreign color 
of eye, depression of skull just above bill, and a muddy 



398 POULTRY CULTURE. 

blackish-green color of the head, but not two specimens 
in twelve get cut at all, ^ to i point rarely exceeded 

Bill. — They are seldom cut here, for they are either 
all right or else disqualified. We do not recollect of 
cutting except for accident and the disqualifying of 
them for cause. 

Neck. — Should be slender, cut up clean at the 
throat, the green plumage lighter in shade than the top 
of the head. The white ring of the neck if it extend 
clear round should be cut i point. If the neck be thick 
and looks heavy, i point ; if the head be carried over 
the back, giving the neck a sharp crook over the back, 
cut I to i^ points; if the color be a faded green or 
tarnished by ashen streaks, i to i^ points. 

Back. — Long, slightly oval in its sweep, the green 
mixture of the ashen gray should increase to bright 
Treen near the tail ; the plumage from the upper part 
of the breast that covers the shoulders should be 
streaked with brown, if the gray is thus void of this 
brown color cut i point ; if the back be very much- 
curved, I point ; if the green shadings are light and 
lusterless, i to i^ points. 

Breast and Body. — The shape we have tried to 
explain under symmetry. If the breast be pale in the| 
shade of purple brown, cut i to i)4 points. If the 
claret color fail to reach well down to thighs, i to lyi 
points. If flat in body, showing too little depth for 
width of structure cut i point. If too full in the ab- 
domen, throwing body out of balance, cut i point. If 
the plumage does not shade from a solid black under 
the tail to a gray under vent cut i to i}4 points. 

Wings are a bluish-gray shaded with a brown, giv- 



DUCKS. 399 

ing a purple shade ; the tip of the coverts a metallic- 
lustered purple, making a prominent bar across the 
wing, the outer edges of which are laced with nearly 
white color, the colors distinctly marked. The cuts 
are generally for a lusterless condition of the plumage, 
and suffer from ^ to 2 points as the season advances 
and the coat of plumage fades out ; for white appearing 
in primaries or secondaries we disqualify ; faded brown 
or sheeny spots in the primaries, i to i}4, points. 

Tail. — Absence of white edging to feathers cut i to 
2 points as it wholly disappears. Lusterless condition 
of the black coverts, i point. 

Legs. — Are cut when turning in at hocks from i to 
I ^ points ; if green spots appear, i to i ^ ; feet and 
legs are seldom faulty. In the fall when a drake is 
shedding his coat, before the new coat is fully webbed 
out, he looks much like a duck and young growing 
drake and all of the foregoing falls to the ground, and 
only an expert and one with full knowledge of their 
habits is fully competent to judge them. This occurs 
at the fall fairs, where many times an old drake is 
palmed off for a young one. 

The ducks of this variety have the same general 
shape of body, but smaller head and shorter neck than 
the drake, and the difference in the color of the bill and 
color of the plumage is the great difference of the sex. 

Head. — We cut i point when the pale brown 
stripes are not prominent from the bill to over the 
eyes ; i point when the eyes are not a hazel color. 

Bill. — When clear yellow, except the blotch and 
bars cut i point for the want of the brown shade. 

Neck. — When the darker brown of the neck is not 



400 POULTRY CULTURE. 

distinctly seen in comparison with the hghter grow: 
color, cut I point; pass the specimen if a white ring] 
appear in the neck. 

Back of duck should, like the drake, be long, but 
fully as straight, color should be a light brown heavily; 
penciled with a very dark brown that has a green shade 
to it. If there was such a color we would say greenish-' 
brown-black. The Standard says penciled with green. 
We do not think one ever saw such a specimen. The 
light faded color is the only defect usually punished, 
and gets a cut of ^ to i^, seldom more. 

Breast and. Body. — We want the full breast and; 
the color light brown, penciled with darker brown. We 
deem this a better description than as in the Standard, 
yet the general effect is the same, and when the breast 
fades out to a light brown in general color we cut from 
}4 to 1)4 for the defect. The body is a trifle deeper in 
its posterior and keel is carried lower than in the' 
drake, yet lower line of body with abdomen preserved,^ 
the color like the breast, but showing darker, the pen- 
ciling growing heavier. The cuts in this section most 
generally arising from the dropping down behind and 
fading out of general color to look light, and i to i ^2 
is seldom exceeded for these defects. 

Wings. — We fear the Standard description misleads. 
We should say, in describing color, grayish-brown pen-' 
ciled with a dark brown, having a green shading.;^ 
When the color fails, presenting a light brown penciled ' 
with brown, they should be cut a point. If the purple 
bar of the wings is blotched with brown or whitish 
gray cut a point. Primaries showing bluish-gray spots 
I to i^ points, white in them being a disqualification. 



DUCKS. 



401 



Tail. — The color is the same as of back, but of a 
still darker shade, the lighter color showing but little 
of the green shading, penciling broad and distinct; as 
they fail in these we cut from i to 2 points. If the 
tail droops, indicating a weakness, cut from i to i^. 

Legs. — Thigh dark brown, penciled with brownish 




PEKIN DUCKS. 

black, the shank very short and orange colored, having 
a smoky tinge. We seldom find this deficient. 

AYLESBURY AND PEKIN DUCKS. 

These are both white, the former being pure white, 
the latter having a creamy tinge of white, so much so 



402 POULTRY CULTURE. 

as to make it a fact that an Aylesbury duck is the 
whitest. Yet some will tell you white is white. Yet 
I say a Pekin that would not be cut for color would 
cause in an Aylesbury a cut of at least three points. 

The Aylesbury has a flesh-colored bill and light 
orange-colored legs, while the Pekin has a golden- 
yellow bill and a reddish-yellow leg, the same being 
heavier in its posterior structure, stern not so tapering 
from legs to tail as in the Aylesbury. So in judging 
we demand a pure bluish shade of Avhite in the Ayles- 
bury and a. heavy yellowish shade in the Pekin. 
Yellow quills in an Aylesbury would be cut severely, 
while the yellow quills in the Pekin would be cut with 
half the severity. 

In these solid shades we find nearly as much to cut, 
and the difference in the score of solid colors such as 
the two named above and the Black Cayuga will not 
on an average score above two points more than ■ 
those of mixed colors. But the cuts come in the dis- 
crimination of the shade of the color. A black of bright ' 
metallic hue being worth over a dull dead black in a ^ 
Cayuga 4 to 4}^ points more, just so will the yellow " 
shade in white specimens like the above damage the color 
value from 2]/^ to even 6 points. An Aylesbury having 
yellow quills in primaries and secondaries and tail would 
carry the yellow shade deep enough to cause a cut of i 
in neck, i in back, ly^, in wings, and i in tail. This 
work demands a good eye for color, and without which 
no one should attempt to judge solid colored birds. 
The errors of form, bad folding of wings, bad carriage, 
are all affected as demonstrated in chapter on Rouen 
ducks. 



DUCKS. 



403 



Weight in the Aylesbury is a trifle less than the 
Rouen, and heavier than the Pekin, the Cayuga being 
smallest of the four breeds, and a just weight^as a per- 
fect one for the breeds being 13 pounds per pair for 
Aylesburys, 12 pounds for Pekins, 10 pounds for Cay- 
ugas, and a cut of 3 points to the pound for all defects. 

THE CALL DUCK 

may be called a Bantam-Rouen and Aylesbury Duck, 
and therefore more valuable the smaller they are, and 
none weighing over five pounds to the pair should 
receive a full score in weight, and 4 points to the 
pound cut for all weight excessive of such Standard 
weight. In all other respects they suffer for color as in 
the two larger breeds named. 




CHAPTER III. 



GEESE. 



DESCRIPTION AND JUDGING. 

PRACTICALLY, the farmer has but the Embden 
and Toulouse geese, if the best meat producers is 
to be the rule for selection of his stock. All others are 
raised for ornamental purposes, taste for unique form 
and diversity of color causing them to be admired. The 
Toulouse have been exhibited at the greatest weight, 
yet we do not see wherein they are more profitable 
than the Embden. 

Sixty pounds for Toulouse and fifty-four pounds per 
pair for Embden geese has been reached in American 
exhibitions, but fully one-third the exhibitions show 
Embdens of greater weight than the Toulouse, and we 
are of the opinion that the Toulouse is susceptible to 
greater growth for extra care, while the Embden is 
better grown under neglect. 

All geese, as a rule, reach a full year of age before 
laying. One is led to exclaim " My geese are ganders," 
in the impatience for an egg product. 

They seldom lay more than they can cover before be- 
coming broody, and not often will they lay more than 

404 



GEESE. 405 

one Utter of eggs. When they commence very early, 
and from cold and accident they are deprived from 
incubating their first early litter, they will lay a second 
litter. The extra eggs from a large litter of eggs can 
be set under a large Cochin or Brahma hen, setting her 
a day and a-half earlier than the old goose is given the 
balance of the eggs, and when the eggs begin to hatch 
under the old goose, those hatched by the hen given to 
her, allowing her to rear the lot. We deem it better 
to keep them away from the water till ten days old, 
letting them have only water from a fountain to drink. 
Thirty days is the duration of incubation. Geese or 
ducks can be fed scalded meal and bran, mashed pota- 
toes and meal and wheat bran, ground beef scraps, 
meal and oatmeal scalded, chopped onions and water- 
cresses. When a week or ten days old they can be 
committed to the care of mother goose till fattening 
season, when shut away from the water, giving only 
that to drink in a vessel, feeding barley meal, corn- 
meal and beef scraps, chopped celery, and keep in a 
subdued light for three or four weeks, when let out for 
a couple of days to enjoy the use of a pond, then return 
to their clean quarters and feed on barley meal and 
milk and chopped celery for two or three days, letting 
them go twenty-four hours before killing, and you will 
have a goose fit for a king, as the saying is. And now 
a word on 

THE JUDGING OF THESE TWO VARIETIES. 

The white Embden, to our mind, on a rich green 
pasture, is a pretty sight, and deserves much attention 
from the poulterer and fancier as well. Their plumage 



406 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



should be pure white in surface color, with a rich lemon 
tinge to undercolor; this latter comes from the oily| 
nature of their skin, and only Avhen kept in a poor, half- 
fed condition will this oily tinge spoken of be missing 
We say their surface color is pure white. 




EMBDEN GOOSE. 



Well-folded wing, clean surface color and weight 
are the grand distinguishing features in adjudicating for 
prizes. We deem a pair of old geese that weigh forty- 
six pounds entitled to a full score for weight, and while 



GEESE. 407 

a greater weight should, all else being equal, decide the 
prize in the pair's favor, yet forty-six pounds or more 
have a value of forty points in the scale of points, and 
for all deficit of such weight cut three points for all 
varieties to the pound. Young goslings the first season 
reaching forty pounds to be deemed perfect, and the 
same deduction made for all deficit. We do not believe 
the largest known weight is the perfect weight of any 
breed, but the possible Aveight that can each year be 
reached by the specimens raised in the corresponding 
years the one best fitted to be considered the perfect 
Standard. 

A crooked back and a wry tail is a deformed speci- 
men. One that tosses its wings, throwing the prima- 
ries outside of the secondaries, is unsightly, and it is 
fit to debar them from exhibition, for our exhibitions 
are supposed to be made up of the excellent specimens 
of the year's product. Their pure, clean plumage, great 
weight. Standard form, are all we can consider under 
the head of white Embden geese, and require more an 
intuitive conception of what is right in the mind of the 
judge than easily described, like the fowl specimens 
already considered. The head shall appear large, this 
is Standard ; then a small, snaky looking head not to be 
tolerated, and yet for such we cut but lightly, for the 
value is small; one point would be a- thirty-three per 
cent cut. If the bill be spotted with foreign color cut 
a point. 

Neck, if too long, as in the African, cut i point. If 
the back be too oval in its make-up, i point ; if the color 
be tainted, not pure white, cut i point to l^. 

Breast and Body. — If it be not deep and carried 



408 POULTRY CULTURE. 

near the ground, cut from 2 to 3 points. If cut awry 
in the stern, conforming to that of the wild goose, cut 
still another point. If the breast be not filled down to 
balance the fluff, presenting a good, even line with keel 
and breast-bone, cut i to i)4, the value of breast and 
body being 200 per cent larger than in fowls. 

Wings are generally all right, unless they are 
deformed, then they disqualify. Seldom does a wing 
get cut in geese of this breed. 

Tail. — If this be carried high, making an abrupt 
angle with saddle, cut a point. This seldom occurs, 
however. 

Legs are of little value, but when not of Standard 
color, cut ^ to I point, and the same for being bow- 
legged. 

TOULOUSE GEESE. 

In Symmetry we expect this breed to be deeper in 
body and carry the lower line of body and fluff nearer the 
ground than any other, and when carried high, like the 
Chinese varieties, will be punished from i to 3 points. 

Weight. — Old birds of 48 pounds should be deemed 
perfect, and young ones at 42 pounds, cutting 3 points 
for every pound they fail in these weights, all excess of 
this weight be superfluous and generally result in ' 
goose oil when cooked, and deemed of no value in a 
Standard sense. 

Head. — Has a small value in points ; should look not 
quite as large comparatively as the Embden, and be 
cut, if small, ^ to i^ points. 

Bill. — May be said to be any color if not defined, 
but cut I point if yellow, i point if spotted with black. 



GEESE. 



409 



Neck. — The Standard does not speak of one of the 
best marks upon a gander. To my mind it is a ques- 
tion whether 'we should cut by the Standard if the 
gander fails to have a weh developed dewlap, so called, 
a loose binding flesh at the angle of lower bill with 




TOULOUSE GEESE 



neck. But the best we can do is, where specimens are 
equal, to give such specimens the preference in deciding 
a tie. If the neck be thrown back and crooked, sharply, 
cut a point ; if the color be light gray, cut a point ; a 
brown line shading to a gray in front is as well as we 
can describe ; dark gray does not describe the color by 



410 POULTRY CULTURE. 

any means, for brown goes largely into the shading of 
back of neck and back also. 

Back. — Should be a dark brownish-gray. When 
;,this brown tint is lacking, cut a point. If the back be 
not slightly curved toward tail, cut a point. 

Breast and Body.^H breast be not full and deep, 
cut I to 2 points as in degree the fault appear, and i 
to I ^ when the plumage is darker than Standard color. 

Body. — If not well down to the ground, cut from i to 
2 points. The color differing from that described suf- 
fering from I to 3 points as in degree. 

Wings. — When small in comparison to the body, 
cut I point. We think primaries better described by 
saying a brown stone color, the text being a dark gray. 
The secondaries are of a still darker shading of the 
brown color, the bows being more brown than gray; as 
the color of wings shades lighter than herein described, 
cut from I to 2^^ points, as such failure in color 
may be deemed advisable ; wings loosely folded, i to 
i}4' Primaries wholly outside of secondaries is termed 
a taint of the wing, and disqualifies. 

Tail. — Is really short in comparison, and a perfect 
color would be a shading of a grayish-brown to a white 
at the tip. If the tail be not carried in a straight line 
with head and back, we term it a " wry tail," and debar 
the specimen from competing. Seldom the tail is so 
bad in color to be cut more than i point. 

Legs. — Seldom faulty, but sometimes bow-legged, 
weak knees, generally turning outward in geese instead 
of inward, as is the case with fowls ; these crooked 
legs are cut from ^^ to i^ points. Their color is gen- 
erally Standard color, but when otherwise cut a point. 



GEESE. 411 

The above in a pure state, and the females mated to 
wild ganders, are those usually bred for poultry pur- 
poses. The progeny of the wild gander and domestic 
goose are what are termed mules, and do not breed, and 
are considered of better quality as meat, bringing some- 
what more in the market, being an improvement over 
both the present breeds. 

THE CHINESE GEESE 

are really breeds of merit, yet so far have been bred 
mostly for ornamental purposes — finding homes in our 
public parks and sailing on the miniature lakes of pri- 
vate estates, their fancy and peculiar points being 
more heeded in the Standard than their practical 
quality. Both the white and brown varieties have swan 
necks, being very long and very much more arched than 
in the Embden variety. On the hatching and rearing 
of them nothing more need be added, except to say 
that they lay larger litters of eggs, and from two to 
three litters of eggs per year. The cost per pound to 
rear is not materially greater than the Toulouse, which 
makes it a surprise that they are not reared more for 
practical purposes than they are, the greater numbers 
seeming to indicate a greater yearly profit. They are 
greatly prized as show specimens, and have a scale of 
points very much different. 

THE BROWN CHINA 

in Symmetry are much squarer in their build, the 
breast being square in front, and they are much less 
tapering as they approach the tail, as compared to the 
larger varieties. Legs are long, the body carried higher 



412 POULTRY CULTURE. 

from the ground. They are very uniform in type, sel- 
dom being cut beyond i point for symmetry. If they 
have a straight neck they are not allowed to compete. 

Weight has but 25 points of value. A pair of 28 
pounds would be a large one, in fact. So far weight has 
been considered more in the sense of size, and the cut 
under this section more from comparative size, and, 
unless the specimen had a decidedly small look, escaped 
cutting for weight, and the judging has been one of 
open judging. We think, however, they should suffer 
3 points to the pound for any deficit under 15 and 13 
pounds weight. 

Condition. — Cleanliness, any excrescences, bad con- 
dition of plumage, or mutilation, is considered under 
this head, a show specimen seldom being cut. An eye 
gone would be cut a couple of points. A low state of 
vitality, being very poor in flesh, giving a dead, dry look 
to plumage, would receive a cut from i to 3 points, as 
such defects were apparent. 

Head. — If the head be short, and look large for 
length, cut a point. The head should be long and in 
keeping with size of body. If the knob be not large 
and oval like a ball, cut from i to 5 points as it dimin- 
ishes in size to that point where it cannot be fairly said 
to have a knob, when it becomes disqualified. If the 
head be not brown, cut a point. 

Bill. — If the beak be other than dark brown or 
black, cut a point ; if wholly yellow, cut two points. 

Neck. — If short, losing its swan-like curvage, cut i 
to 5 points, as in degree. If the color be not a grayish- 
brown in front, and having a darker brown stripe on 
the back of the same, cut i to 3 points, as in this 



GEESE. 413 

respect it fails. If there is an absence of the dewlap, 
cut a point. 

Back. — Should be considered wide for length, 
especially so at wing and in front of tail, being nearly- 
straight from neck to tail, any decided difference from 
the above description being cut from % to lyi points, 
and I to I ^ if the color be lighter than a dark brown. 

Breast. — Broad, rather square in front. What 
would be called medium full would go uncut. If 
wedge shape, which lessens the prominence of the sides 
at shoulder, cut i to i^ points. If body hangs low 
near the ground, in a like manner as the Toulouse 
variety, cut from i to 3 points. For color cut i to i^, 
as it shall vary from a dark-brown at back and shade to 
a grayish-brown on under part of body. 

Wings. — These are cut as they vary from a nice 
brown when folded; cut i to 1)4 if badly folded, and 
disqualify if the flights are thrown outside of second- 
aries. 

Tail. — Wide and short for size, dark brown color ; 
cut one-half to one point for a light shade of color ; if 
carried high cut a point. 

Legs. — Thighs if not short cut a point, shanks more 
than medium long to be perfect, if they look short in 
comparison cut a point. 

We deem these few remarks will enable any com- 
petitor, no matter how much of a novice he may be, to 
select his best specimens for the show pen ; bear in 
mind a straight-necked Chinese or African goose is a 
disqualified specimen, and as it shall vary from a we// 
arched swan-like neck to the above straight condition, 
they get cut from one to even seven points. TJie neck 



414 POULTRY CULTURE. 

and comparative weight are the two next valuable sec- 
tions of the breed, and perfection in them generally 
insures their winning. 

WHITE CHINESE GEESE. 

The only difference between the white and brown 
oeing in the color, all the conditions of form and weight 
are affected alike as in the brown. If any foreign 
color be found in its pure white plumage the specimen 
is disqualified. The would-be exhibitor, in mating for 
breeding for the show pen, has only to select the larg- 
est, the longest and most nicely arched necks, and be 
absolutely sure no foreign colored feathers are to be 
found in the plumage ; that the knobs are large and 
round and the deeper orange color the better, having 
no black streaks upon the same or bill ; short thigh and 
long shanks, with wings smoothly folded. The shad- 
ing of straw color in the plumage seldom suffers more 
than a point in neck, back and breast and body. The 
wings faulty, from one to one and one-half points, and 
seldom the same specimen is faulty in all four of these 
sections for color. 

AFRICAN GEESE. 

The African can hardly be said to have so swan-like 
a neck as the Chinese, yet they bear a strong resem- 
blance in form structure. They are larger and carry the 
neck in a nice curve, but not to be called well arched. 

The Head. — If beak and knob be other than black, 
is disqualified. This leaves little to consider unless an 
eye be put out or some enlargement of skull over the 
eye be apparent, when a cut of i to 2 points may be 



GEESE. 415 

made. If plumage be not gray, cut a point ; eyes 
other than hazel or brown, cut i point. 

Bill and Knob. — Are considered in a section by 
themselves ; if the beak or knob be a brownish black 
then cut i to 2 points ; bill the same ; and i to 4 
points for the relative size of the knob ; if they have 
but a slight rise of head above bill, it cannot by any 
means be called a knob, and should be promptly dis- 
qualified. 

Neck. — If short in appearance cut i point ; if car- 
ried straight, being not well curved, cut i point ; if not 
distinctly striped down back of neck with dark stripe, 
cut a point, the throat and forward part of neck being 
a light gray. 

Back. — These geese should be flat and straight in 
back, tapering somewhat from shoulders to side of 
tails, color cut ^ to i^ if light gray instead of dark 
stone gray, and i point if back be much oval in its 
sweep from neck to tail. 

Breast and Body. — Breast moderately full, being 
not square in front like the Chinese ; body carried higher 
than the Toulouse and slightly lower than the Chinese, 
but breast carried high, giving an upright appearance ; 
failing in these characteristics they suffer from i to i^, 
as a rule, and seldom in color more than a point. In 
show specimens foreign blood enough to change the 
color will damage the knob so as to disqualify. 

Wings. — They are heavy in wing, when otherwise 
cut a point ; if folded to show primaries below second- 
aries cut I to I ^ ; if flights are twisted, disqualify ; 
if color be light gray, cut one point. 

Tail. — If turned to either side, disqualify ; if car- 



416 



POULTRY CULTURE. 



ried at a sharp angle with back cut a point • if othen 
than dark gray in color cut a point. ^ 

LEGS.-If thighs be long cut a point ; shanks if so 
longas not tobe described as medium shape, cut r 
pomt; bowlegs, i to i^ points; if other tha; dark 
orange color cut a point. 




GLEAl^ESTGS A:N"D COMMENTS. 



WRIGHT has said : " Kill every hen at the age of 
two and one-half years." We would say this : If 
you are a farmer and poulterer, and look for your returns 
from marketing poultry and eggs, the best plan for 
Leghorns would be to kill all males at an age they 
would weigh three and one-half pounds to the pair as 
broilers, and force the pullets for eggs till seventeen 
months old, then market them. This is by far the 
most profitable way to handle all the small breeds for 
practical use. 

The Asiatics may be sold as broilers at four to five 
pounds weight, or fed till eight months old or older, 
when they will sell for large roasting fowls, and for 
hotel use preferred to all others, the female forced for 
eggs, and carrying into the second year all that molt 
before October i; such will lay more eggs the second 
year than the first, but those who molt late will lay 
but few eggs till spring in comparison to the number of 
pullets that will lay — making the room they occupy 
quite an item. Such as molt early are valuable as 
breeding stock from which to rear the subsequent 
stocks to be kept. The Light Brahmas will, without 
contradiction, we think, lay a larger number of eggs up 
to the time they are twelve months old — at least it is 

417 



418 POULTRY CULTURE. 

true that they will lay more dollars worth. Thirty pul- 
lets that completed their twelve months of age a few 
days ago laid 3,278 eggs, counting no broken or soft- 
shell ones. This is 109^ each, an average we have 
at this writing never seen beaten. Mr. Rankin, in a 
recent agricultural meeting, said : " It is my practice 
to kill all males as broilers, and keep the females till 
they have laid a year, then dispose of them ; and in 
my experience there is no breed that will lay more eggs 
in the time up till they are one year old than the 
Brahma." The early molting of these birds will be 
found to be about thirty-three per cent of the number 
kept, and as a rule those that have laid less eggs the 
first season will make it up during the winter, the 
secret being this : they get to laying before winter, 
therefore spend the flesh those molting later are apt'^ 
to put on, becoming too fat to lay. As a rule, farmers 
feed too little, however, and fanciers too much. A 
bird must be in good, healthy, full muscular condition — 
no more — if eggs are to be produced. A significant re- 
mark made by Mr. Williams, in speaking of an exhi- 
bition cock in the New York show was, "/ would have 
paid the ^75 they asked for him, but you know, Fetch, I 
could not get a chicken from Jiim for two months. He 
would live on his own fat for a month, if given what 
water he would drink." Fanciers, to gratify their 
taste for beautiful color and mammoth proportions, 
sometimes care little for the egg-basket. Such can 
keep fowls to be twelve years old, as they keep their 
trotting team, for pleasure. 

But there is another side to this picture as it in- 
fluences the fancier. Each fancier is compelled to 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS. 419 

keep, if he caters for the egg trade for hatching pur- 
poses, quite a number of females ; while in our own 
case we could have sold the sixty we used in March for 
$iO each, we would after July i have sold these same 
birds at prices ranging from $3.50 to $6, up to the time 
they had molted in the fall. So far as a young male 
and six to twelve of these birds, or 'the breeding 
yard from which to rear stock, is concerned, they are 
too valuable to kill, and the amateur who is buying 
stock to start with would do well to buy such in 
preference to paying $5 to $10 each for the pullets 
from them, for he has a guarantee of their breeding in 
the fact that he sees before him their progeny, and that 
he is buying them at a less price, which will enable 
him to kill them at two or three years old, Avhen he has 
done with them. The hen that molts late and is 
judiciously wintered, and commences to lay the last of 
February, and the May and June hatched pullets that 
commence to lay at the same time, are the most valu- 
able stock birds for the fancier who cares to rear his 
stock from March to June i. The hen is fresh and 
vigorous from her rest — the. pullet in the first vigor of 
her life. 

CLEANLINESS IN FEEDING. 

The plan of feeding upon the ground is all well if 
the feed plats are swept and sanded daily. This would 
come somewhat near nature's plan ; but to feed the soft 
food day after day on the same spot, mingling with the 
droppings, which are far worse than one supposes, for 
the chicks are constantly returning to the plat through 
the day, and for a short time previous to meal-time can 



430 POULTRY CULTURE. 

be seen standing about in waiting for their meal. How 
many take the pains to sweep and sand before feeding 
for the sake of feeding on the ground? If breeders 
would do this we would say it was the best. But until 
they do this we think clean pans the better, notwith- 
standing the constant appearance of articles in our jour- 
nals recommending it as best. We notice roup far more 
prevalent in flocks fed on the filthy yards than by the 
use of clean vessels for food and drink, and water kept 
cool by shade or by constantly changing it through the 
day. 

We do not like to feed stock through wire or wood 
palings ; a narrow, long pan, say three feet by four 
inches for chicks and six inches wide for fowls for their 
soft food, feeding what they will dispose of at the 
meal, will enable them to feed from both sides, and 
there will be but little standing in it, for in that case they 
get pecked for being in the way. A square dish large 
enough for twenty birds to eat from will have from one 
to four birds standing in it to feed, while the long pans 
do away with this evil. The constant feeding through 
slats or wire will wear the neck and lacerate the comb, 
and in the course of a year cause quite a loss in the 
price received for nice birds (every feather damaged 
mars in its proportion the beauty and condition of the 
specimen). 

We think water-fountains made in the shape of a tin 
pail, six inches in diameter and one foot deep, turned 
bottom upward in a tin plate eight inches across it and 
lips one inch high with escape-holes in the pail one-half 
inch from the rim will keep the water clean and pre- 
vent the birds from taking many diseases that are 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS. 421 

only spread in the flock by drinking from the same 
vessel. For this reason : the fowl is taking in the 
water all the time its beak is in the water, it holds its 
head up to swallow, and as you see does not drop any 
from its mouth into it as is the case standing over a 
pail or water-pan. Such a fountain is a pail, also, that 
brings the water. It is open to be washed at will. One has 
only to clap the tin plate on the top and reverse it, and 
it is held in its place by atmospheric pressure till drank 
up, or till replaced by new and free from the taint of 
the tainted air of the fowl-house. These are best ; why 
name any other? They are simple ; all can get them. 
They are inexpensive and repel the frost, for water 
commences to freeze at the top always. 

We are asked why we do not treat 2ipon the egg — its 
different stages of incubation. Beyond what we have 
said, were we to exhaust the subject, we could add no 
new thing than can be found in Wright's Poultry Book 
from page 35 to 50. That book has a copyright, which 
we shall not invade. Were we to give our own lan- 
guage for the same matter we should be accused of 
borrowing. This we do not care to have the name of. 
We therefore refer you to that work. 

THE CRAMMING PROCESS. 

We do not believe in the cramming process beyond 
close confinement of, say, twelve birds in a pen six 
feet square, and in the season of the year when vegeta- 
tion is green to let them out a half hour before sunset 
to feed on grass, and while eating the grass to cleanse 
and sweep the pens and sand them with clean sand, 
that no bad odor may taint the meat, for as sure as 



422 POULTRY CULTURE. 

you make a practice of feeding in foul coops the meat 
will have a bad odor and an unpleasant taste, and to all 
who know the reason why, far from being appreciated. 
This is easily controlled where few fowls are kept, 
but in large establishments, for summer use, a range of 
pens six feet square, rear wall two feet high, front five 
feet, which has an open space three inches at near roof 
all round, slats and doors in front, the latter opened 
while feeding three times per day, and left open an 
hour before feeding, closed the remainder of the time, 
keeping them in a quiet and subdued light, all thrown 
open for their exercise and grass feed at night, and the 
cleansing process spoken of above. To cram a sick 
fowl is death ; a healthy one will eat all it should, and 
its meat will be sweet and healthy. The extra weight 
of clear fat secured by cramming we do not believe 
will pay for the extra labor and expense for quarters 
and operators to do it. 

The cramming modes have been before us for years, 
but they are used but little so far in this country, and 
abandoned after a short trial. 

Standard requirements : are they detrimental to and 
antagonistical to physiological science ? I am led to 
ask this from the remarks of Hon. J. Stanton Gould 
before the New York Agricultural Society, so clearly 
condensed by Wright in his work on poultry: 

" In the rule for judging Brahmas, lam told that the 
beak must be well curved. I would respectfully ask 
why. If two Brahmas, A and B, A having a well 
curved beak, and B having a beak approaching near a 
straight line — is the curved beak any evidence that A 
will lay on any more flesh or lay more eggs for any 



GLEANINGS AND COiMJ.IENTS. 423 

great amount of food, or is in other respects better 
than B ? They must have a pea comb. Why, I ask in 
the name of common sense, is it necessary a Brahma 
should have a pea comb? * * If it is true that the 
pea comb is no indication of the excellence of a fowl, 
or of its profitableness or its purity of blood, and if it 
does not minister to the aesthetic gratification of its 
owner, is it not simply nonsense to include it among the 
points of excellence of the breed ? I hope you will can- 
didly consider these objections, for I feel that there can 
be no real advantage in poultry breeding until it is re- 
moved from the realm of caprice and fancy and placed 
upon the sure foundation of anatomical and physiologi- 
cal science." 

It is such seemingly candid remarks that often 
block, in the minds of the unthinking, the means to 
do good by the application of the Standard in our 
breeding. The farmer is led to ignore the Standard 
breeds, for he does not stop to consider why these 
minor points are as necessary to preserve intact the line 
that marks the purity of the breeds as surely as the 
stakes and stones designate the actual dividing lines 
between his farm and his neighbor's. The Standard is 
supposed to designate what each section of the fowls of 
certain breeds is, and to show what type is the most 
prolific in meat and egg production, as a rule. That 
there may be an exceptional type bred from the 
Brahma does not give the owner sui^cient reason to 
demand recognition in the pure Brahma class. To 
answer why these deficiencies do not as a rule carry 
with them greater merit and are in keeping with ana- 
tomical science, we say, a straight beak in a Brahma is 



424 POULTRY CULTURE. 

invariably the companion of a flat peaked head, and 
seldom seen on a full round breast and a plump body. 
The fact that this is the rule makes it decidedly an 
objectionable feature in the Brahma breed, both as a 
Standard requirement, as a fancy point, and backed up 
by anatomical and physiological science. That a stout, 
well curved beak is always the accompaniment of a 
broad, nicely arched head, and full, round breast and 
body, make it, as a rule, an indication of merit. That 
the upper mandible be striped with black is also sure 
indication of a beautifully marked neck hackle, a sure 
indication of beautiful plumage, and as young chickens 
do not show the beauty of plumage till the third molt- 
ing, when they plume up into adult life, the dark 
striped beak becomes a criterion by which to select at 
an early age, the best for color, enabling the breeder to 
kill all others long before the adult coat of plumage is 
grown, and thereby enabling the breeder to cater to his 
(Esthetic gratification most assuredly. This, to my 
mind, most emphatically illustrates why a Brahma 
should not only have a well arched but a dark striped 
beak. Any other comb indicates impurity of blood, or 
disastrous in-breeding of the stock one has. Then any 
with single combs should certainly be disqualified at our 
fairs, where none but excellence and quality meet to re- 
ceive a prize. When poultry are entered for prizes as 
meat then they should be exhibited despoiled of all out- 
line of breeds, feathers taken off, then the best body, 
best fattened pair to win. So far as our experience goes, 
that in nine-tenths of the breed the Standard type is 
the most prolific type, and any deviation taken alto- 
gether will be found of less value for all practical 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS. 425 

worth. Pure breeds must be kept up if we would reap 
the great egg-production from cross breeds, to wit : It 
is a fact that the first crosses of thoroughbred fowls 
will lay larger numbers and in some cases larger eggs. 
But to breed again these half-bred specimens is to 
deteriorate greatly and often to fall below in numbers 
either of the thoroughbreds that went to make up the 
cross that was found to be so prolific in egg-production 
and increased flesh-production in a given time. Nota- 
ble in this case is the cross of White Leghorn males with 
Light Brahma females. He who takes the position Mr. 
Gould does, taking his text from the merit and produc- 
tion of a cross-bred fowl, sees but half the question. 

If we find the greatest merit, greatest beauty, all 
things considered, in a bird of Standard t}'pe, then any 
deviation from that type must be looked upon with 
suspicion. Fowls do not take the dignity of a breed 
until they have " become "perfectly bred" — that is, 
until they have come to a type that sire and dam pro- 
duce ninety per cent of their progeny in their own 
image — and so far in fowls when this is accomplished 
they become of the greater merit. Why! let one set 
the eggs as laid by his flock of twelve hens, and he will 
set more eggs from his most prolific layers, and the se- 
lections for breast and body each year have come in a 
larger per cent from them, and in a series of years of 
breeding one has a breed of uniform shape, and of the 
greatest merit as egg-producers. Now the universal 
characteristics of that breed in comb, beak, head, neck, 
back, breast and body, tail, wings and legs, becomes 
minutely described in a Standard for the then recog- 
nized new breed, and this has been done by a com- 



426 POULTRY CULTURE. 

mittee of all the breeders of them. I ask the question, 
why is not this the work of anatomical and physiolog- 
ical science, and why, pray, is it not the very height 
of esthetic gratification of all its breeders? Any de- 
parture from it cannot in wisdom be considered as a 
sign that such specimens are not as good. 

THE VALUE OF BREEDING-PENS. 

The value of a breeding-pen of fowls can be de- 
termined in but one way, to-wit : First, be sure that 
the female have as near as possible the same general 
form, and that they are of the same shade of color, 
and that the male be of a proper form and structure to 
strengthen in the progeny the weakest defect of the 
females, and that the color of the male be as near per- 
fect Standard color as possible, or, if the females be 
very dark, that his color be a lighter shade, but not 
below what could be called strictly first-class. The 
breeding expectancy of such a pen will, be, to wit : 
Suppose the male score 93 points, and value of 
the pullets be found by scoring them all, and the 
full number of the score, divided by the number 
of pullets, be 88, then the expectancy of the 
progeny will be 93+88-^2=90^ on an average, with 
the chance for many to score more than sire 93, while 
90^ is the average expectancy, yet the probable 
result will be many birds to score 91 and 92, for the 
male is supposed to have a much greater influence in 
controlling type and color. Again, a pen of pullets 
scoring 88 to 95 points, being an average of 91^, and a 
male scoring 88^, while the rule of average gives us 90 
points of expectancy, we will as a result find that we 



! 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS. 437 

shall rarely reach an individual score of 95, that of the 
highest scoring pullet, for the reason of the greater in- 
fluence of the male to drag down the average to below 
the arithmetical figures, and chicks on the score of the 
high scoring pullets. 

The rule sometimes resorted to in exhibitions of 
giving the full score of a breeding-pen, counting both 
cock and hens, is entirely wrong, for 85 point males 
with 95 point females have an average expectancy of 
90 points in their progeny, yet the aggregate num- 
ber of points is greater than the pen that has a 
93 point male and 92 point females, whose expect- 
ancy is 92^, and an extra chance from the greater 
influence of the male. No breeder should submit to a 
competition in breeding pens on any other plan than 
the average score of the females added to the full score 
of the cock or cockerel, for the male goes into the 
make-up of all the progeny. Still more, the "germ," 
the "life," in fact, the "embryo chick," is imparted by 
the male, and is fed by the eggs, until it breaks the shell 
and comes into independent life. Then the male is the 
vital and all-governing principle of a pen, and when 
by any rule or want of one he is forced to be con- 
sidered as a mere individual of a pen, then injustice to 
exhibitors of prime males and impartiality to those 
showing poor ones is apparent. 

OPEN JUDGING 

is the worst of all judging when it is pretended to be 
done by the dictates of the Standard. We heard the 
remark, "Let our birds be judged as they run upon 



428 POULTRY CULTURE. 

the yard, taking into consideration external appearance 
only." 

When this is done, in the majority of cases, unless the 
judges be expert Standard judges, and then not infalli- 
ble, serious errors will occur. For in the scale give lo 
points for symmetry — in this case say personal appear- 
ance, and there are 25 points for color in most breeds. 
And this color question is very minutely described, yet 
at ten feet and no handling a very faulty one may give 
the same general effect as the one far mOre perfect in 
color. The specimen having numerous small defects 
has them passed to his or her favor. If so they have a 
very symmetrical carriage, and that section at once 
assumes a value three times greater in its effect upon 
the decision than the scales of points may warrant, 
while color (25) sinks into all of half its value in many 
cases. Color must be the grand distinguishing feature 
in all breeds. Change any breed's color and it no 
longer has a name or acknowledgment. A bird per- 
fect in color, then, has the advantage of one being 
perfect in symmetry and poor in color, A defect in 
each considered to be worthy of a cut of 25 per cent, — 
cuts 2JE^ in the one case and 5 points in the other. Just 
these two sections only need be quoted to show how 
much easier to err in open judging than where point 
judging is the rule. 

In a recent exhibition a male was given a prize that 
had a V shaped piece cut out of the comb, the pen also 
winning the first prize of which he was a part. A pro- 
test was made. The comb was not cut in the scoring. 
In the test of disqualifications nothing appears by 
which for the so doing, but in nearly or quite all of the 



GLEANINGS AND COMMENTS, 429 

society rules it says any plucking or fraudulent trimming 
shall debar the specimen from competition. Again, in 
the absence of such a rule, while you could not con- 
demn absolutely, ought not such a course to sufTer the 
penalty of a cut equal to that of a twist, which by the 
act was taken out? We think so. We beliexc in all 
legitimate helps to nature, and had this comb, while a 
chick, when the unnatural growth was first apparent, 
when the . mere lancing and bleeding would have 
checked it, and nature have done her work in produc- 
ing a perfect comb, to be legitimate ; but to bring it 
about by mutilation, the specimen should be either 
disqualified or cut in the scale of points for cause, and 
any other decision by the management or judge is an 
error, whence 

THE RIGHT OF PROTEST. 

We think no first-class judge would object to the 
right of protest. But let the exhibitor show cause. 
We think it the duty of a judge, and a right he has, to 
refuse to act in any exhibition where the right of pro- 
test is denied. 

When a protest is filed the judge has the right to 
defend his decision until such protest be offered. It 
seems to us like self accusation for a judge to take 
time to show to others, other than the owner of a 
beaten specimen, that he is right. The judge has the 
right to protest as well. Disappointed exhibitors 
many times get " hot," as they say, talk extravagantly, 
and make things decidedly unpleasant, but so long as 
the conversation is not directed to him he has nothing 
to say. When the competitor has the right to protest. 



430 POULTRY CULTURE, 

he will either make his protest or cease his accusa^ 
tions, which if he does not, the judge can make his^ 
protest and prove on the spot his decision correct, and-, 
force it into the minutes of the society as record for 
future proof of his honesty of purpose. 

A Grave Abuse in our American Shows. — We believe 
no one but the owner, judge and executive committee 
of an exhibition should be permitted to handle in any 
way the specimens of an exhibition, unless by special 
permit of the owner. Those frequenting our exhibi- 
tions know how prevalent the practice, the moment the 
awards are made, to be constantly handling, pulling, 
and even abusing the Avinning specimen. I have seen 
a first-prize bird taken from a show-pen in no gentle 
manner no less than five times in twenty minutes after 
the prize cards were nailed up, and a constant ruffling 
of the back and stretching out of the wings (until the 
bird in her despair stood with wings drooping and back 
and neck plumage ruffled, and she not looking anything 
like a show bird) in the vain attempt to find some out 
whereby they could raise an objection to the award, and 
then call the attention to the '^ sorry'' looking specimen 
the judge had given the first prize to. There is cer- 
tainly room for reform here, and stringent rules should 
be enforced. If the penalty was that any exhib- 
itor found guilty of roughly handling a competitor's 
specimen should forfeit all prizes he had won, this evil 
would be in a very large measure stopped. 

The exhibitors should demand that the specimen 
should not be handled by outside parties. All abuses 
are easily reformed if all work in harmony. 




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